


Lavenders Blue

by RowArk



Series: Lavenders [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Past Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, child!emma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-15
Updated: 2015-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-23 00:26:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 32,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3748600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowArk/pseuds/RowArk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Emma is reverted to her 5-year-old self by the QoD, the Charmings think they have a second chance to raise their daughter. But when Emma is quick to bond with Regina instead, it is Regina who has a second chance to atone for the damage the Dark Curse caused to Emma. (*TW: mentions/insinuations of past abuse/sexual abuse*) Inspired by "Little Girl Lost" by StarvingLunatic</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**LAVENDERS BLUE**

**_Prologue_ **

_In an attempt to do away with the savior, and thus secure their happy endings from the Author, Maleficent, Rumple and Cruella banished Emma back to the world without magic, reverting her back to a five-year- old, with nothing but her five-year-old memories, to prevent her from returning._

_After Regina and the heroes defeated them, the Charmings set out to find their lost daughter. Eventually they did just that, discovering Emma in a group home in Boston, where she ended up after being found wandering the streets of Boston alone, with no idea how she got there. All she knew was she was a foster kid, and the police dropped her right off at Children's Services. The Charmings finally managed to convince the social workers that they are Emma's real parents, and they brought her home. The social workers had warned the Charmings that Emma was a "problematic child" with severe trust issues and separation anxiety, but the Charmings were sure that being home with her loving parents would be all that Emma needed._

_While Emma was initially happy to be reunited with her estranged parents, her behavior problems still persist, in the form of temper tantrums, lying and disobedience, that the Charmings are completely unequipped to deal with, having never dealt with a preschooler before. Added to that is the frequent bed-wetting and persistent thumb sucking that Mary Margaret believes is completely inappropriate, given her age._

_The Charmings went to the Blue Fairy for a spell to revert Emma back to her normal age, but she has nothing to offer them. Blue and the rest of the fairies promise to keep on it, until they come up with something, but in the meantime, she suggests to them that they treat Emma as though she may never be "fixed"; essentially, they have a second chance to raise her._

_The Charmings are in over their head with a baby and a preschooler who both require constant attention, so Henry is still staying with them to help out. However after five full days pass and he sees no improvement in the situation, he takes it upon himself to call in a reinforcement, or as he calls her, Mom._

**Chapter One**

Regina walked up to the door of the Charming loft, and turned the handle to let herself in, as she always did. This time, to her surprise, it was locked. She wondered if the Charmings were taking precautions to keep their new little terror inside, as she knocked on the door.

Moments later, Mary Margaret opened the door, looking frazzled. "Oh! Regina, thanks for coming. What time is it?" she asked, not waiting for answer, "Henry said you were coming. I didn't realize how late it was. We're just eating dinner. Come inside."

Regina raised an eyebrow as she walked in. The place was a disaster. Henry clearly wasn't exaggerating when he said his grandparents were struggling with Little Emma.

"Please, excuse the mess, Regina, we're just…" Mary Margaret let her voice trail off, and Regina wondered if she had literally lost her train of thought, midsentence.

"It's alright, dear. Little children are a handful. Trust me, I remember," Regina said, as she turned her eyes toward the table. David sat with his back to her, facing Henry, who sat beside the miniature version of Miss Swan. Henry looked up and smiled at his mother, no doubt anxious for an end to this chaos, Regina figured. Regina noticed another plate sitting across from Emma's, untouched, and guessed that Mary Margaret had probably been spending more time trying to coax Little Emma – whose plate also looked untouched – to eat, than actually eating herself.

Regina couldn't take her eyes off the little girl. Her hair was a mess of blonde curls that looked like it hadn't seen a brush in a month. She had red juice stains around her mouth, as well as down the front of her shirt. But it was her eyes that were the most troubling. The biggest, greenest, saddest eyes Regina had ever seen were locked on her own, as if Little Emma saw Regina as an intruder, and wasn't letting her out of her sight.

"I talked to Blue again today, and she still has no idea how to change her back," Mary Margaret lamented.

"You want to change her back?" Regina asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm surprised. I thought you would have loved a second chance to raise your child, as a child."

"Well, I mean… that's not really fair to Henry, is it?" The hopeful tone in her voice gave Regina the impression that this was not the first time that thought had crossed Mary Margaret's mind, and she was looking for someone to validate her desire to keep Little Emma as a child.

"No, it's not," Regina shook her head. "It's not fair to Emma, either." It didn't exactly come as a shock to Regina that the Charmings would not have considered their own daughter's feelings in all of this.

"Does she have her magic?" Regina asked.

"Not that we've seen. We didn't tell her about the whole…. Fairy tale thing, either. We didn't want to scare her."

"Probably wise," Regina agreed. At least the Charmings had done one intelligent thing in the five days they had had Little Emma.

Their conversation was cut short when Neal started wailing in his crib. Mary Margaret turned to get him, but David told her he was on it, as he got up quickly from the table.  _No doubt jumping at the chance to parent the easier child_ , Regina thought to herself.

Regina watched as Little Emma slid out of her chair and crawled under the table. David and Mary Margaret seemed completely oblivious, as both of them now had their attention on Neal. Out of the corner of her eye, Regina watched Emma crawl into the sitting room and tuck herself between the couch and the chair. Henry moved to alert his grandparents, but Regina motioned for him to stay quiet.

A few moments later, Mary Margaret finally realized her first born was AWOL. She let out an audible sigh of annoyance, and turned to Henry. "Where did she go?"

Henry darted his eyes to Regina, who just smiled. "I got this," she said, heading over to the sitting room. She knelt down on the floor in front of Emma's little hideout, and found the girl with her knees draw up to her chest, sucking on her thumb. Regina was sure the Charmings had said Emma reverted to her five-year-old self, much too old to still be sucking her thumb. She wondered if the child had never stopped, or if this was some sort of regression due to the trauma of a bad foster home experience, but she knew this was not the time to ask.

"Hi, Emma," Regina said softly, not wanting to scare the child. She already looked terrified as it was. "My name is Regina. Can we talk for a minute?"

Emma pulled her thumb out of her mouth, not taking her eyes off Regina. "Are you a social worker?" she asked, timidly.

"No, Sweetie, I'm not. I'm Henry's mom."

Emma glanced momentarily in Henry's direction, though Regina was sure she couldn't actually see him from where she was sitting. "Are you gonna take Henry home?"

"Do you want me to take Henry home?"

Emma nodded.

"You don't like Henry?" Regina asked, keeping her voice low in hopes that Henry wouldn't hear the question.

"I don't like boys," Emma said, putting her thumb back in her mouth.

"Oh, I see," Regina said, "is that why you don't want to eat your dinner? Too many boys at the table?"

Emma nodded again.

"But you must be hungry. What if I bring your food over here? Would you eat it here?"

"They're not gonna let me do that," Emma replied.

"They will if I tell them to," Regina said with a wink. For a moment, she thought she saw the flash of a tiny smile on Emma's lips.

"Okay," Emma agreed.

Regina walked back over the table and picked up Emma's plastic plate and plastic cup of juice. David had sat back down to finish his meal with Henry, and Mary Margaret now had Neal, and was standing by the stairs, just watching.

"What are you doing?" Mary Margaret asked, rushing over to the table.

"She doesn't want to eat at the table with boys," Regina informed them, with a shrug. "So I'm bringing her dinner to her."

"She can't eat on the floor in the sitting room," Mary Margaret protested. "She needs to abide by the rules of the house."

Regina glanced back at the sitting room, and saw big green eyes peeking at her from around the base of the chair. "Mary Margaret, you will find with young children, you need to learn to pick your battles. She'll eat over there, so your choice is either to  _let_  her eat there, or just let her not eat."

Regina didn't wait for Mary Margaret to respond before she turned and headed back to the sitting room. Emma had scooted forward so she was now just at the edge of the base of the chair, still hidden from view of anyone not in the room, and was sitting cross-legged, waiting. Regina placed the cup of juice next to her, and handed her the plate.

"Do you want me to leave you alone to eat?" She asked. Emma nodded, so Regina got up to rejoin the Charmings.

"Regina, I don't know what we're going to do with her," Mary Margaret said the moment Regina had returned.

"Well, talking about her while she's still in earshot probably isn't the best start," Regina commented, as she walked around the table and headed over to the stairs. The others got up to follow her, including Henry. Regina didn't really want to talk about Little Emma in front of him, knowing it was likely a difficult situation for him, but she couldn't really leave him out, either.

"So, she doesn't like eating with boys?" Mary Margaret asked.

"She doesn't like boys in general, she tells me. She asked me to take Henry home," Regina replied, glancing over at Henry to try to gauge how he was handling it. To his credit, he seemed unfazed.

"Well, we can't just give in to her every whim," said David.

"No, but you also can't ignore everything she wants, either, or she will start to think her opinions don't matter. And she won't tell you when something is bothering her," Regina replied.

"She doesn't tell us anything anyway," Mary Margaret commented, "you've made more progress with her in five minutes than we have in five days."

"Don't take it personally, I just have more experience with young children than you do. I had to learn everything the hard way with Henry, too. Parenting is really a whole lot of trial and error." Regina almost regretted mentioning her experience with children, and she hoped the Charmings wouldn't notice, and bring up the fact that their own lack of experience was really her fault. To her relief, they didn't.

"Maybe you should take her home, instead," Henry piped up.

"What?" Regina and Mary Margaret both asked, in unison.

"Well, if you take me home, Grandpa and Neal are still here. If she doesn't want to be around boys, taking me home isn't going to solve the problem. Maybe if you leave me here, and take her with you for the night, you might be able to get her to talk more, and find out what's going on with her."

Regina was about to protest, when Mary Margaret chimed in. "It's not a bad idea," she said, turning to Regina.

Regina noticed the hopeful looks in David and Mary Margaret's eyes, and realized they were just excited for a night free from being terrorized by a preschooler. She wondered if she should remind them that they would have to deal with this from Neal soon enough, but decided against it.

"Alright," Regina said, finally, "one night, and only if Emma agrees to it.  _And_  I'll be the one to ask her."

"Why you?" David asked.

"Because you are her parents, and in her experience, parents have done nothing but give her away. If you ask her if she wants to come home with me, she might misinterpret that as you trying to pawn her off on someone else."  _When in actual fact, she'd be right, because that's exactly what you're doing_ , Regina thought, but kept that last part to herself.

Mary Margaret nodded slowly. "You're right, you should ask her."

"I'll go pack her some clothes," David said, turning to head up the stairs.

_Apparently, waiting to see if Emma agrees to it isn't on his agenda,_  Regina thought to herself, but she said nothing as she turned and headed back to the sitting room to speak to Emma again.

Regina was pleased to find Emma sitting with her plate cleared and her juice gone. She knelt down in front of the child, again. "It looks like you were hungry! Good girl." Emma's eyes lit up, and it occurred to Regina that she probably hadn't received much praise in her short life.

"Emma, I want to know, what would you think about having a sleepover at my house tonight?"

Emma sank down a bit and looked at the floor. "With you and Henry?" she asked, quietly.

"No, Henry would stay here. It would be just you and me, no boys," Regina replied.

Emma looked up again. "No boys?"

"None. Just you and me. We can make it a girls night. We can paint our nails and do our hair. I'll make popcorn and we can watch a movie. Does that sound like fun?"

Emma nodded vigorously, and Regina smiled. She wasn't sure what Emma was most excited for, but for her part, Regina couldn't wait to take a brush to that wild mane of hers.

"Can we go now?" Emma asked.

"Yes, absolutely. Come on," Regina smiled and reached out her hand to Emma. Emma took it without hesitation. Regina picked up the plastic dishes, and then led Emma out of the room and over to the kitchen, so she could place them in the sink.

"Can I clean your face up, Sweetie?" Regina asked. Emma nodded, and Regina grabbed a clean cloth from the counter, and wet it before kneeling down to wipe the juice stains from around Emma's mouth.

"Wow, she freaks out when Grandma tries to do that," Henry commented, leaning over the counter. Emma looked at Henry, back to Regina, and back to Henry again, no doubt trying to figure out just how everyone was related to each other.

"It's all about building trust, Henry," Regina said, returning to her feet and taking Emma's little hand again. "Building trust, and  _asking_  instead of telling." Regina made her way around the counter with Little Emma in tow, and headed toward the door where Mary Margaret and David were already waiting. She wondered if it were actually possible for them to look  _more_ eager to pass their daughter off to someone else.

"Emma, you be a good girl for Regina, ok? Do whatever she tells you," David said, handing Emma's backpack of clothes to Regina. "I don't want to get a call saying that you're not behaving." Emma didn't respond, just stuck her thumb back in her mouth.

Mary Margaret quickly reached down to push Emma's hand away from her mouth. "Emma, what did I say about sucking your thumb?" she said, a little too sternly. Regina rolled her eyes. It was becoming evident why they were having problems, if this is how they dealt with her all the time.

"I'm sure we won't have any problems," Regina said, squeezing Emma's hand a little tighter.

"Bye, Mom," Henry said, coming over to give her a hug.

"Bye, Henry, I'll see you tomorrow," Regina responded, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Have a good time, Emma, we love you," Mary Margaret said, smiling down at Emma, but making no move to hug or kiss her goodbye. "We'll come by to pick you up tomorrow afternoon." Emma didn't look up, she just absently played with a loose string on the hem of her t-shirt.

"Well, let's get going so we don't run out of time to do all our fun girl stuff tonight," Regina said, opening the door and leading Emma out. The second the door closed, Emma's thumb went straight back in her mouth. Regina didn't say a word.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Regina glanced back at Emma in the rearview mirror as she pulled up to her house. Emma was staring out the window, her eyes wide, her thumb still firmly planted in her mouth. At this point, Regina was more concerned with the reason for the thumb-sucking, than the actual thumb-sucking itself. She knew it could damage a child's teeth, but she figured that if Little Emma was doing this now, then Emma surely must have done it when she was actually five, and her teeth turned out fine, as far as Regina could tell, at least.

Regina stopped the car and got out, walking around to Emma's door. Emma made no attempt to get out on her own, so Regina opened her door and took off her seatbelt. It occurred to her then that Emma should probably be in a booster seat, but if the Charmings had one for her, they didn't offer it to Regina. She grabbed Emma's backpack, and took her by her tiny hand, leading her up to the door.

"Come on, Honey, I'll give you the grand tour," said Regina. Emma didn't respond, but seemed to hang on Regina's every word as she showed her around the main floor. When they finished with the main level, Regina led her upstairs and took her down the hall to the guest bedroom.

"This is where you're going to sleep tonight," Regina said, leading her inside and putting her backpack down on the bed. "And my room is right across the hall if you need anything." Regina pointed out her door, and Emma just nodded.

"Now, how about we get our jammies on and we can watch a movie?"

Emma smiled a little and nodded.

"Do you need help getting changed?"

"No, I can do it myself," Emma said, proudly, finally taking her thumb out of her mouth.

"Good girl. Then I'm going to go get my jammies on, and I'll be right back." If there was one thing she had learned from popcorn and movie nights with Henry when he was little, it was that they didn't count if she didn't put her pajamas on, too.

Regina went into her own bedroom, and let out a long sigh once she had closed the door.  _What have I gotten myself into?_  She asked herself, as she poofed herself into a pair of charcoal coloured silk pajamas. When Henry had called her and asked her to come help diffuse the situation at the Charmings' loft, part of her wanted to say no, and just pick up her son and let them sort it out themselves. She figured it was about time they learned to handle their own problems without running to her for help. On the other hand, she and Emma had grown closer over the past few months, and while Regina thought "friends" might still be a bit of a stretch, she conceded that Emma had helped her a lot, and she herself had become more concerned with Emma's welfare as well. She also knew that, in light of the fact that Blue thought there was a chance the spell may be irreversible, she needed to step in before the Charmings inadvertently caused any more damage to their already damaged daughter.

Regina went to her closet and pulled out an empty make-up bag, which she filled with a few colours of nail polish, a hair brush and some hair ties, before heading back into the hall to see if Emma was changed yet. She found Emma standing in the doorway of the guest bedroom, thumb in mouth, clutching a white knitted blanket with her name embroidered on it. She had changed herself into a faded flannel nightgown that she had clearly outgrown, as it hung to her knees, and the sleeves ended a couple inches above her tiny wrists.

Regina couldn't help but think Emma looked like an overgrown toddler standing before her. Henry had never sucked his thumb, but he had given up his pacifier without protest at a year and a half, and his own blankie didn't leave his room after his second birthday. Regina supposed it wasn't really fair to compare Little Emma with Henry, given how different of a start in life she had, but she still couldn't help thinking that Emma was either delayed, or had regressed, and she didn't know which was worse.

"That's a very nice blanket, Emma," Regina commented.

Emma glanced down at the blanket for a second, and squeezed it tighter. "I thought it was lost, when I got lost. The police got me and they didn't have my stuff. But when my… um… Mommy and Daddy found me, they had it at their house," Emma shrugged, as if that didn't seem strange to her at all.

Regina just nodded, and noticed Emma staring intently at the make-up bag in her hand. She knelt down and opened it so Emma could see inside. "Nail polish and hair things," Regina said, "for our girls night."

"I never had my nails painted before," Emma said softly.

"Well, then this will be an extra special night! Come on, let's go down to the kitchen and make our popcorn." Regina headed towards the stairs and Little Emma eagerly followed; she didn't want to miss a thing.

In the kitchen, Emma watched as Regina pulled an air popper out of a cupboard, and scrunched her face in confusion.

"What's wrong?" Regina asked.

"What's that?" Emma pointed at the machine on the counter.

"It's an air popper. It makes popcorn. Much better popcorn than you can get from a microwave bag, I might add," Regina explained, as she poured oil and popcorn kernels into the top. She turned it on, and then pulled up a chair for Emma to stand on and watch the popcorn pop, just like Henry had liked to do at her age. Regina stood back and watched Emma's face light up as the popcorn started jumping out of the machine into the bowl below. She couldn't help but notice how much Emma's smile looked like Henry's. She didn't see the familial resemblance as much in Adult Emma, and she wondered now if it was actually Emma's hardened expressions that didn't compare with Henry's innocence, more so than their actual features.

When the popcorn was finished, Regina carried the bowl into the family room, with Emma tagging close behind. She put the bowl and the make-up bag down on the coffee table, and Emma scrambled up onto the couch before reaching for a big handful of popcorn. Regina smiled to herself as she found one of Henry's old movies from when he was little, and put it on. She sat down on the couch next to Emma.

"How about I do your hair up pretty while we watch this movie?" Regina suggested. The little girl's wild rat's nest was driving Regina crazy.

Emma didn't take her eyes off the movie as she shook her head. "Don't like my hair brushed."

"What if I promise to be very gentle?"

Emma shook her head again.

"How about this: if you let me brush your hair, then when I'm done you can pick any colour of nail polish you want and I'll paint your nails?"

Emma glanced at Regina out of the corner of her eye. "Will you not make it hurt?"

"Of course. I'll be gentle, Sweetheart," Regina assured her, and then she patted her knees. "You can sit on my lap and keep watching the movie, you won't even notice."

Emma crawled onto Regina's lap and sat up straight while Regina started working the brush through her hair. She could tell there was no way Mary Margaret had even attempted to take a brush to her hair in the past five days; these kinds of tangles did not develop overnight.

It took Regina much longer than expected to finally work all the tangles out. To her credit, Emma didn't make a peep the entire time, even the few times that Regina accidentally got the brush caught and had to pull a little. She just sat, perfectly still, and watched the movie. Regina then braided Emma's hair into a French braid that ended just past her shoulder blades.

"All done," Regina said, and Emma reached back to feel what Regina had done to her hair. "You know, my mother used to brush and braid my hair every night when I was little."

"Really?" Emma asked, crawling off Regina's lap back to her spot on the couch. "Did she paint your nails, too?"

"No, she didn't. That's just special for us," Regina said, laying the colours out so Emma could pick. Regina smiled when Emma went straight for the bright red. "So this is the one?"

Emma nodded, grinning.

"Alright, then, shall we start with fingers or toes?" Regina asked. Emma stuck her hands out in front of Regina. "Fingernails it is, then."

Emma watched intently as Regina painted her nails, as if she was trying to memorize every moment. When her fingers and toes were all painted and had dried, Emma curled up on the couch under her blanket. There was only twenty minutes left of the movie, and Emma was fast asleep before it was done.

Regina sighed. Emma looked like a little angel sleeping. She stood up and scooped the child up in her arms, to carry her upstairs. Emma's slight weight felt like nothing in Regina's arms. She figured she couldn't be much more than thirty pounds, if that.

Regina tucked the tiny sleeping Emma into the large bed in the guest bedroom. The girl seemed to be lost in a sea of blankets, but she looked peaceful.  _She is not nearly as difficult to handle as the Charmings led me to believe,_  she thought to herself as she headed back downstairs to tidy up in the family room.

A little over an hour later, once Regina had finished her remaining housework and was getting ready to retire for the evening, she heard a scream from Emma's room. Regina rushed across the hall and flicked on the light, to see Emma sitting up in bed, sobbing, her face white as a ghost.

"Emma, baby, what's wrong?" Regina asked, sitting down on the bed across from her. She reached out to touch Emma's face, but Emma flinched away.

"I'm sorry!" Emma choked out, between sobs.

"Sorry for what, baby?"

"Please don't be mad, I'm sorry," Emma said again, terrified eyes locked on Regina as she scooted further away.

When Emma moved, she revealed a wet spot on the bed where she had been sitting. "Did you have an accident?" Regina asked, softly.

Emma nodded, and started crying harder.

"It's ok, I'm not mad. It's alright," Regina reassured her, as she moved closer. Emma didn't back away.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Regina asked, lightly stroking Emma's hair. Emma didn't flinch away from her touch this time.

Emma nodded.

"Do you want to tell me what it was about?"

Emma shook her head.

"Okay, that's alight, you don't have to. Let's just go get you cleaned up, ok?" Emma didn't respond, so Regina reached down to pick her up. Emma wrapped her little arms around Regina's neck, and wrapped her legs around her waist, resting her head in the crook of Regina's neck. She wasn't crying anymore, just lightly sniffling as Regina walked down the hall to the upstairs bathroom.

Emma turned her head as Regina flicked on the light, and began to panic as soon as she realized where she was. "No bath! No bath!" Emma screamed, grabbing on tighter to Regina's neck – so tight she was almost choking her.

Regina put her hand on Emma's head; her hair was still soaked with sweat from crying. "Okay, okay, shhh, no bath," she said, stroking Emma's hair as she walked out of the bathroom. She walked down the hall, carrying the sobbing child, and rocked her in her arms until she calmed down.

"I'm sorry," Emma choked out, in a small, pathetic voice that made Regina want to cry herself.

"It's okay, Baby. It's alright," Regina cooed, still rocking her.

"Please don't be mad," Emma whispered.

"I'm not mad, everything's okay." Regina wondered what in the hell could have possibly happened to this child in her short life to damage her like this. One part of her wanted to get the truth out of Little Emma, but another part of her wondered if that was really fair to Adult Emma in the long run. There was a chance that Adult Emma didn't even still carry the memories of whatever trauma she experienced before the age of five. Regina weighed the odds in her head, and considered the possibility that they may never find a way to turn Little Emma back into Adult Emma, and if that was the case, she needed to do whatever she could to help this child now.

She carried Emma back to the guest bedroom, where her old wooden rocking chair sat in the corner. She had rocked Henry in that when he was little, and when she converted his nursery into his big boy room, she couldn't bear to part with it, so it had taken up residence in the guest bedroom for years.

Regina sat down in the rocking chair, and sat Emma on her lap, facing her. Emma's head still rested against Regina's shoulder, so she moved to cup Emma's little face in her hands, so she could look her in the eyes. Emma's face was red and wet with tears, and her big green eyes were bloodshot. For a split-second Regina considered using her magic to wipe it all away, but she knew she needed to keep up a normal front to prevent terrifying the girl even more.

"Emma," she said, softly, looking for any trace of the Emma she knew in those big green eyes, but all she found was childlike innocence and fear. "I want you to listen to me, because I'm going to tell you something very important, okay?"

Emma nodded, but didn't say a word.

"Emma, I need you to understand, that I will never get mad at you for an accident, or for having a bad dream, or for being scared or crying."

"But those things are bad," Emma replied.

"They're not bad. They're normal, and they're not your fault. I would never get mad at you for something that wasn't your fault." Regina paused for a moment, remembering all the times she had done just that to the Adult Emma. She sighed and pushed that thought from her mind before continuing. "I know the world can be a scary place when you're so small. I will never get mad at you for being scared, but it would help me to know what you're scared of, so I can protect you from those things."

Emma just stared back at Regina, not willing to offer up any information on her own.

"You're afraid of having a bath?"

Emma nodded.

"Did something bad once happen to you in the bathtub?"

Emma nodded again.

"Can you tell me what it was?"

Emma shook her head. "It's a secret."

"Is it a secret because you don't want to tell, or because someone told you not to tell?"

"Someone told me," Emma whispered, looking down.

Regina could tell the little girl was getting upset again, and she decided not to push her too hard. "Okay. I'm not going to ask you to tell me your secret, but I want you to know, that if someone did something bad to you, and then they told you not to tell, you don't have to do what they say."

Emma looked up again, but didn't say a word.

"You know I would never hurt you, right Emma?"

Emma nodded slowly, as if she wasn't quite sure.

"Do you think I would do something bad to you in the bath?"

"No."

"Do you think it would be okay to have a bath tonight?"

Emma shook her head violently.

"Okay, I won't make you. But we need to get you changed out of these wet jammies. Did your parents send you with another nightgown?"

Emma nodded and climbed off Regina's lap, to go pick up her backpack. Regina stepped out of the room to give the child some privacy while she changed. When Regina returned, she found Emma standing in the middle of the room, with a nightgown that fit her worse than the last one. Regina guessed that since they had found Emma wondering the streets with nothing, the group home must have just thrown whatever they could find in a bag for her. Still, she couldn't believe that in the five days the Charmings had had her, it didn't occur to them to buy her new clothes.

"Now, I have to change these sheets for you, ok?" Regina said as she walked over to the bed. Emma didn't respond, she just stared at the wall, pouting. Regina sighed. "What is it, Emma?"

Emma turned to look at her. "I don't like this room."

Regina walked over and knelt in front of her, meeting her at eye level. "You don't like this room. What don't you like about it?"

"It's too big and too dark and it scares me and gives me bad dreams. It's too lonely."

"I see," Regina said, nodding. "Do you think you might sleep better if you slept in my room with me?"

Emma nodded. "Can my blankie come?"

"Of course," Regina said, standing. She thought about what David had said about not giving in to Emma's every whim, but it was evident to Regina that Emma craved comfort, and had likely been denied a lot of appropriate attention from adults in her life. Besides, it was only one night.

Emma grabbed her blanket from the bed, and followed Regina back to her bedroom. Regina lifted her up and tucked her in. "I'll be right back, Sweetie," she said, as she headed into her en suite bathroom and shut the door. She waved her hands and poofed herself into a new pair of dry pajamas, and then leaned against the wall for a moment and closed her eyes, trying to take in everything that had just happened.

 _She sucks her thumb, she has nightmares, she wets the bed and something bad happened to her in the bathtub_. Regina felt sick to her stomach. Even though Emma had not explicitly expressed what had happened in the bathtub, it wasn't much of a stretch for Regina to put two and two together.

Regina sighed and headed back out into her bedroom. She didn't want to leave Emma out there alone for too long. Big green eyes followed her as she walked around to her side of the bed and crawled under the covers.

"I left the light on in the bathroom so it won't be too dark for you," she said, as she flicked off the light on her night stand.

Emma smiled as she slid a little closer to Regina, holding her blanket tight to her. "Good night, Regina," she said, closing her eyes.

"Good night, baby girl."

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

It had taken Regina a long time to finally fall asleep the night before, so when she woke in the morning to find Emma already awake, she wasn't surprised. Emma had gotten up and gotten herself dressed, and come back to sit on Regina's bed, waiting for her to wake up. She wore a long sleeved magenta shirt under denim overalls that looked like they might be for boys, but at least both articles of clothing seemed to actually fit her.

"Good morning, Emma. Are you ready for breakfast?" Regina asked, as she sat up in bed. She knew she was ready for coffee.

Emma nodded.

"Ok, I have to get dressed. Why don't you go down stairs and wait for me, I won't be long."

Emma scurried off down the hall, and Regina dressed quickly. She went to make the bed, but instead waved her hand and used her magic to do it instead. She didn't want to leave Little Emma alone for too long.

Regina was about halfway down the stairs when she heard a crash, and the sound of shattering glass from the foyer.

"Emma!" She called out, running down the stairs. She found Emma standing in front of a knocked over end table, the porcelain lamp that had been on it was now shattered on the tile floor. Emma's face was white as a ghost as she stared at Regina, looking terrified.

"Emma, are you alright?" Regina asked, rushing over to her. Instinctively, Emma shielded her face with her hands, and Regina's heart dropped into her stomach as she realized that Emma thought she was about to hurt her.

"I tripped," Emma whispered as Regina grabbed her and pulled her close into a tight embrace. Emma was trembling, and she inhaled sharply before sobs started pouring out.

"It's ok, it's ok, baby," Regina said, picking her up and rocking her. Emma wrapped her shaky arms around Regina's shoulders and buried her face into her neck.

"I'm so-orry!" Emma choked out between sobs, "it was an accid-d-dent!"

"I know, honey, I know. I'm not mad," Regina felt her own voice crack as she fought to hold back the hot tears burning at the corners of her own eyes. A few escaped and streaked down her cheeks, as she rubbed Emma's back, trying to get her to calm down.

When she finally stopped crying, Regina carried Emma into the kitchen and sat her down on the island. "Are you hurt anywhere?" Regina asked, as she wiped the tears from her cheeks, and checked her head for any signs of a bump. Emma shook her head no, but Regina could still see a lot of fear in those green eyes.

"Are you really not mad?" Emma whispered.

"Of course I'm not mad. I promised you I would never get mad for something that was an accident, and I meant that. Emma, accidents happen. Besides, that was an ugly lamp anyway. You did me a favour."

Emma started to relax, and actually giggled a little at Regina's comment.

"How about breakfast, then? Do you like Fruit Loops?"

Emma nodded.

"With milk?"

Emma nodded again, and Regina lifted her down from the island and told her to head into the dining room while she got it ready. She wasn't surprised Little Emma liked the sugary cereal, seeing as how Adult Emma did. Regina had never had to buy cereal like that until Henry had developed a taste for it after a year in New York with Emma.

Regina brought Emma her breakfast and went back into the kitchen to start the coffee maker, before taking the broom and dust pan into the foyer to clean up the shattered lamp. If it weren't for the fact that Emma could see her, she would have used magic to clean it up, but she figured she spent 28 years doing everything by hand during the curse, one day wouldn't kill her.

Once the remnants of the lamp – which Regina had to admit, really had been ugly and would not be missed – were swept up, Regina got her coffee and joined Emma at the table. Emma was drinking the leftover milk straight from the bowl when Regina sat down, and Regina couldn't help but smile.  _She recovers so quickly_ , she thought to herself.

"So, Emma, what shall we do this morning?" Regina asked, sipping her coffee.

Emma put down the bowl and looked up. "I… don't know," she replied.

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could bake some cookies?" Regina suggested.

"Chocolate chip?" Emma asked, her eyes lighting up.

"If that's what you want, then that's what we'll make. But I need your help to make them."

"I don't know how to make cookies."

"That's ok, I'll teach you. You can be my little baking apprentice." Regina was sure Emma probably didn't know what an apprentice was, but her expression showed that she was excited none-the-less. Regina was too. It had been years since Henry wanted to bake with her. She hadn't realized just how much she missed him being little, until now.

When Regina had finished her coffee, she got up to clear the table, and Emma followed her excitedly into the kitchen. Regina opened the closet to fetch her apron, and found the little white chef's apron that Henry used to wear to help her bake. She pulled a chair up to the counter for Emma to stand on, and tied the apron around her.

"I look like a real baker," Emma commented, looking down at the apron.

"That you do, my dear," Regina agreed, as she tied her own apron on.

Regina set the oven to preheat, and then went about gathering all the ingredients and baking supplies they would require. She let Emma measure out all the ingredients and add them to the mixing bowl. She was so careful to fill every measuring cup or teaspoon exactly level, while also making sure she didn't spill a thing. Regina was impressed, but a little saddened by how hard this little one tried to do everything perfectly.  _So eager to please_ , she thought to herself.

Regina made sure to tell her how well she was doing after every step. Emma grinned at every compliment like it was the first one she had ever received in her life.

When Regina placed the first batch of cookies into the oven, Emma hopped off the chair and sat in front of the tempered glass door to watch the cookies bake. Regina stood back and watched her, amazed at how full of wonder she was. She also noted for the first time, that she didn't recall seeing Emma's thumb in her mouth all morning. She hoped that was a sign that Emma was getting comfortable around her.

"They're getting bigger!" she exclaimed, as the cookies began to rise.

"That's good. That's what they're supposed to do," Regina replied. She just now realized that she had been smiling the whole time.

Regina wondered if Mary Margaret had ever thought to do something like this in the time she had Little Emma: to spend some time bonding just with her, one on one, without David or Neal. She figured she probably hadn't, or else Emma might have warmed up to her by now.

The oven timer went off, and Regina asked Emma to step back from the hot oven while she got the cookies out, and put the next batch in.

"Can I try one?" Emma asked, excitedly.

"When they cool, yes," Regina smiled down at her.

"I never had homemade cookies before," Emma commented.

"None of your foster mothers baked?"

Emma shook her head. "None of them were nice like you. Well, the first mommy was, but I don't remember her much."

Regina felt a little pain in her heart again, as she looked down at the little girl who spoke so nonchalantly about not-so-nice mothers. She remembered Henry once telling her that Emma was with a family until she was three, and she wondered if that was 'the first mommy'.  _How many mommies has this child had?_

"Well, Sweetheart, you don't need to worry about those other mothers anymore, because you're not going back to any of them again," Regina assured her.

"I always get sent back," Emma replied, looking down at her feet.

"Not this time. Your Mommy and Daddy are going to keep you forever."

"I wish I could stay with you forever," Emma said, softly.

Regina knelt down in front of Emma. "Sweetie, I'm not your mother. But I promise you, I'll be here for you whenever you need me, ok? Your Mommy and Daddy, Henry, you and me… we're all a big family."

"And Neal?"

"Of course, and Neal."

Emma nodded. "I missing the cookies!" she exclaimed suddenly, returning to her spot in front of the oven door.

Regina just laughed, and smiled as she watched Emma watch the cookies.

Once all the cookies were baked, Emma helped Regina tidy up the kitchen – not that there was much to clean, since Emma hadn't spilled a single thing – and Regina rewarded her with a warm cookie. She then took Emma to the family room to watch some cartoons, while she undid Emma's falling apart braid, and rebrushed and rebraided her hair. Regina figured the braid was the best way to keep those wild curls under control, but she thought the kid was also way overdue for a haircut.

They watched cartoons until lunch time, when Regina made Emma's day when she surprised her with a homemade grilled cheese sandwich.

"How did you know this is my favourite?" Emma asked with a big grin.

"Lucky guess," Regina replied, with a wink.

It wasn't long after lunch that there was a knock at the door, and Regina's heart sank a little when she realized it must be the Charmings. She wouldn't have expected it when she brought her home the night before, but she actually enjoyed having Little Emma around, and almost didn't want to let her go.

Emma peeked over the back of the couch as Regina got up and went to the door. She was greeted by a big hug from Henry, which was a nice surprise, as she didn't realize he would be coming home right now. Mary Margaret followed him in, and Regina noticed that she didn't have David or Neal with her. Probably wise.

"Where's Emma?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Family room," Regina replied, leading the way. Henry took off up the stairs to unpack his things.

Emma was in the middle of the couch, sitting on her hands as they entered the room. Regina wondered if she was trying to resist the urge to put her thumb in her mouth, knowing that her mother didn't approve.

Mary Margaret sat down on one side of the couch, and Emma stared at her with her large, apprehensive eyes. Regina took the spot on the other side, and Emma inched a little closer to her.

"Did you have a good time, Emma?" Mary Margaret asked, pretending she didn't notice Emma inching away from her.

Emma nodded.

"Your hair looks pretty," Mary Margaret commented. Instinctively, Emma raised a hand to touch her hair, revealing her shiny red nails.

"You painted her nails?" Mary Margaret asked, shooting Regina a disapproving look.

"Relax, it's just nail polish," Regina scoffed. "It's not like I got her a tattoo!"

Emma giggled, and stuck her feet out, spreading her toes like a little monkey. "She did my toenails, too!"

"Well, what's a manicure without a pedicure?" Regina said with a wink. Emma smiled and nodded in agreement, even though she didn't know what either of those words meant.

"Emma, why don't you gather all your things together, so we can go home," Mary Margaret suggested.

Emma stuck her bottom lip out in a pout, and turned to look at Regina.

"Your mother's right, it's time to go home," Regina said, hating every word as it left her mouth.

Emma got up and headed up the stairs without a word. When she was out of earshot, Regina turned back to Mary Margaret. "Have you tried giving her a bath since you brought her home?" she asked.

"Once. She screamed bloody murder then entire time. The lady at the group home warned me about that, but it was worse than I expected. Did she wet the bed last night?"

"Yes. Thanks for the heads up on that one, by the way," Regina scoffed.

"Sorry. It completely slipped my mind last night."

 _Of course it did,_ Regina thought to herself,  _it's hard to think when you're so busy pushing your daughter out the door with a woman she doesn't even know._

"You need to buy her some new clothes," Regina said. "Nothing she owns fits properly."

"I know. We were waiting to see if Blue could turn her back first."

"Well, you need to stop waiting and start treating this situation as if Blue might not be able to turn her back, because that is a very real possibility."

"I know," Mary Margaret said, looking down.

"And Mary Margaret," Regina continued, "be careful with her. She's had a hard life."

Mary Margaret looked back up. "What did she tell you?"

"It's not what she says, it's what she does. Bedwetting, thumb-sucking, the tantrums, hiding from boys… they're all symptoms."

"Of… abuse?" Mary Margaret asked, quietly.

"Probably. Don't push her to talk about it, or she might shut you out entirely. Just be careful with her."

Mary Margaret nodded, and stood up as Emma came back in the room, backpack and blanket in hand.

"Henry is here," she said, looking at Regina.

"I know, Sweetie. He's going to stay here with me. One less boy at your house."

Emma nodded, and Regina took her hand, leading her to the front door with Mary Margaret. When they reached the door, Regina knelt down and wrapped Emma in a big hug. "Thank you for sleeping over last night," she said, as she gave her one last squeeze, before releasing her. "I'll see you again, soon."

Emma just nodded, and turned back to Mary Margaret, who held out her hand. Emma took her hand, a little reluctantly, and followed her out to the truck. Regina watched the little girl leave, as a lump grew in her throat. She felt a sense of loss she couldn't quite explain as Emma got in the truck with Mary Margaret, and they drove away. She hugged her arms around herself as she stared out across the road for some time, before finally breathing a heavy sigh and closing the door.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Henry came back downstairs when he heard the door shut. "You ok, Mom?" He asked, noticing the troubled look on Regina's face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just exhausted," Regina said, walking over to Henry and putting her arm around his shoulders. "And, I missed you," she added, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"It smells good in here. Did you bake cookies?" Henry asked, hopefully.

"Emma and I did, yes," she said, as they began to walk together to the kitchen.

"Thanks for taking her last night," Henry said, pulling a chair up to the kitchen island, and grabbing a cookie out of the jar, "I'm sure it wasn't easy for you."

"Why would you think that?" Regina asked, taking a seat across from him.

"Well, I mean, I know you two had been working together and getting along more lately, but... I know she still gets under your skin sometimes. The adult version, anyway," Henry said with a small smirk. Regina was amazed at how well he was handling this whole situation. His life had been anything but normal since he was ten, but this was still pretty weird, even for them.

"Emma and I have made a lot of progress, actually. I should have never blamed her for bringing Marian back. She wasn't wrong for saving a life, even if it did kind of screw mine up. Besides, that little girl is not the same person I had issues with in the past. Even if I was still angry, I wouldn't take it out on a five-year-old," she said, getting up to start the coffee maker again.

"You weren't kidding about being tired," Henry commented. "Did Emma keep you up half the night with a nightmare?"

Regina raised an eyebrow. "I take it that's a common occurrence?"

"Every night," Henry nodded. "She has them as an adult, too. Not as often... and she doesn't scream like that, but I still hear her wake up crying sometimes."

"Why didn't you ever tell me that?"

Henry shrugged. "I don't think she wanted anyone to know. She tries to pretend it doesn't happen. You know how she is."

Regina nodded.

"Mom... the fairies will be able to turn her back, right?"

Regina gave him a small smile, "of course they will, don't worry."

Henry nodded, though he looked unconvinced.

"Henry," Regina, started tentatively. "How are your grandparents with Emma?" She didn't really want to cause him any concern, but at this point, she was worried that Emma's welfare trumped that.

"What do you mean? You know they're in over their heads."

"What I mean is… how do they interact with her? How do they talk to her?"

"Well, I don't know if I'd call what they do 'interacting'... mostly, Emma screams and cries, and they try to calm her down. When she's not throwing a fit, she either shuts herself in her room, or hides somewhere," Henry stopped and thought for a moment before continuing. "Remember when you said, it's about asking and not telling?"

Regina nodded.

"Well, they tell her what to do. They're not mean about it or anything, more like 'Emma, please eat your dinner', but she doesn't answer and she doesn't do it, just pouts. She doesn't seem to like being told what to do."

"Most kids don't," said Regina. Another thing she had learned through trial and error with Henry.

"She hates when they touch her, too. Like I said last night, about how she freaks out when Grandma tries to wipe her face. I know it upsets them because they want to hug and cuddle her, but she just squirms away."

Regina nodded, thinking back to how the Charmings had made no attempt to hug or kiss Emma when she left with her last night, and to how Emma had flinched away from her own touch after her nightmare.

"She lies, too," Henry added.

"About what?"

Henry shrugged. "Everything, I guess. Like she spilled juice on the floor and tried to say Neal did it. Things like that."

"She's afraid of getting in trouble," Regina commented.

"Well, Grandma and Grandpa didn't get mad or anything. They've never yelled at her or even raised their voices. She has nothing to be afraid of."

"She doesn't know that. At some point, someone has gotten angry with her for an accident, and now she's afraid of getting in trouble."

Henry seemed to think on that for a moment, without responding.

"What is it?" Regina asked.

"It's just... maybe you should tell Grandma that? Because she thinks Emma lies because she has behaviour problems. That's what the lady at the group home told her."

Regina nodded. "I will."

Regina sent Mary Margaret a text telling her to call her once Emma was asleep. She ended up getting a call from David at 8:30, with Emma quite audibly wailing in the background.

_"Regina, I'm sorry to put this on you, I know it's not your problem, but Emma has been screaming like this for nearly an hour, and we can't get her to calm down. We don't know what to do."_

"You let her scream for an  _hour_?"

_"We've been trying everything to calm her, nothing's working. She keeps asking for you. You know I wouldn't ask unless I was desperate. Just tell me what to try… how do I calm her down?"_

"Put her on the phone."

_"What?"_

Regina rolled her eyes. "Put Emma on the phone; let me talk to her."

Regina glanced over at Henry, who had looked up from his video game and was now watching her from the couch, trying to figure out what was going on.

Regina heard the screaming getting louder, and she realized then that David must have been in a different room when he had called her. She was amazed that noise could come out of that tiny child. She could hear him trying to tell her to take the phone. It took a few moments, but suddenly the screaming stopped.

 _"Hello?"_  Emma's timid voice came through the phone.

"Hi, baby, it's Regina. What's going on?"

Emma took a moment to answer. Regina could hear a few distinct double-breaths through the phone, the kind children got after intense sobbing or hyperventilation. When she finally did speak, her words came out in a staccato fashion, possibly from still trying to catch her breath, or possibly from trying to prevent the onslaught of more tears.  _"I. Want. To. Come back. To. Your house."_

It took everything in Regina's power not to tell Emma she was on her way, as she realized that she would have liked nothing more than to have her back at her house as well. She had to remind herself that she was not Emma's parent. "Why, sweetie? What's wrong with your house?" she asked.

_"I don't like it here. It's scary and I can't sleep."_

"Why is it scary?"

Emma didn't respond. Regina wondered if she didn't actually know what was scaring her, or if she did, and didn't want to say it with her parents in the room. She could still hear her laboured breathing, so she knew Emma was still on the phone, just choosing to remain silent. Regina wished that she could just pull her into her arms right now, and never let her go.

"What if I came over to see you?" Regina suggested. It occurred to her that perhaps she was overstepping her bounds by not checking with the Charmings first, but at the same time, she was sure they were just relieved to have some peace and quiet after an hour of Emma screaming like a banshee. Either way, it was too late to take the offer back, anyway.

 _"Now?"_  Emma asked, her voice a little hopeful.

"Yes. We can be there in ten minutes." Regina looked over at Henry again, who had already turned off his game and gotten up to head for his shoes. She wasn't surprised that he was listening. She was less surprised that he was quick to jump on board with going over to help with Emma. Helping his family was part of his nature.

 _"We?"_ Emma asked.  _"Do you have to bring Henry?"_

"Yes, darling," Regina replied. In the background, she heard Mary Margaret ask Emma to hand her the phone, and Emma refused.

"Emma, please give your mother the phone, ok?"

Moments later, she heard Mary Margaret's voice.  _"Regina, are you coming over?"_

"Well, it sounds like you might need a bit of a break," Regina said, trying to play it off lightly.

_"That would be nice. But I don't want you to think she's your responsibility. That's really not why David called you."_

"Don't worry, I don't. I'm happy to help. I'll be there shortly."

When Regina and Henry arrived at the Charmings', they could hear Neal crying through the door by the time they were halfway up the stairs.

"Strong lungs must run in the family," she commented, raising an eyebrow at Henry, remembering how loud he used to wail as an infant. "How do you get any sleep here?"

Henry shrugged. "I don't, I just drink a lot of coffee," he joked.

When they reached the door, Regina found it was locked, again, but Henry had a key and let them in. They were barely inside the door when Emma ran over and flung herself against Regina's legs, wrapping her arms around them and squeezing tight, nearly knocking her over. Regina reached down and picked Emma up, hugging her close.

Moments later, Regina noticed Neal's crying had stopped, as Mary Margaret rocked him with a bottle in his mouth.  _At least they can soothe one of their children by themselves._

Regina watched Mary Margaret watching her, and noticed a glint of something – longing, maybe? Jealousy? – in her eyes, and she knew it must bother her that Emma had latched on to her so quickly. At first, Regina had thought Mary Margaret wasn't trying hard enough, but that look in her eyes told Regina that she would do anything to trade places with her right now.

"Where's David?" Regina asked, suddenly, only now realizing he wasn't present.

"He went out to get some… air," Mary Margaret replied. She had always been a bad liar. Regina wondered if he actually just wasn't keen on her coming over to comfort Emma herself, rather than attempting to walk them through it over the phone. Despite all the progress they had all made as a family, she was well aware that he still wasn't her biggest fan.

"I see," Regina replied. "I'm going to take Emma upstairs. I assume she still sleeps in the same room?"

Mary Margaret nodded. "Good night, Emma," she called to her daughter, but Emma didn't look up. Regina rubbed her back as she carried her up the stairs. She wore pink cotton pajamas with white stars all over them, that felt soft and new, and actually fit her properly. Regina was relieved that they had at least taken one piece of her advice, and bought Emma new clothes.  _Maybe they can be trained, after all_ , she thought to herself, with a small smirk.

Regina carried Emma into her bedroom and looked around. Though it didn't exactly look like a child's room, she did note that they had removed all of Adult Emma's belongings from sight, which she figured was probably wise. She pulled back the covers on Emma's bed and laid her down, before crawling into bed next to her.

"Are you gonna stay with me?" Emma asked.

"Just until you fall asleep," Regina replied, stroking her hair. "But I thought maybe we could talk a little first."

"Okay," Emma agreed.

"Can you tell me why you were so upset earlier?" Regina asked.

"Cause I wanted to go to your house."

"I understand that, but you can't just throw a temper tantrum when you don't get what you want."

"Are you mad?"

"No, Emma, I'm not mad. You said your house is scary. What's scary about your house?"

"I'm tired. I don't wanna talk anymore," Emma said.

Regina sighed. "Okay, that's fine. Good night, Sweetheart." Emma squeezed her eyes shut and Regina continued to stroke her hair.

"Can you sing me a lullaby?" Emma whispered, with her eyes still shut.

Regina smiled, and thought for a moment. "Ok. I used to sing this one to Henry, it always put him to sleep," Regina said, clearing her throat before she started to sing, softly.

"Lavender's blue, dilly, dilly, lavender's green,  
When you are king, dilly, dilly, I shall be queen."

Emma opened her eyes and started to giggle.

"What?" Regina asked, smiling.

"I can't be King, I'm a girl!"

"Ok, fine, forget that line. Let me start over."

Emma smiled and closed her eyes again. Regina snuggled in a little closer and began to sing again.

"Lavender's green, dilly, dilly, Lavender's blue,  
If you love me, dilly, dilly, I will love you.  
Let the birds sing, dilly, dilly, And the lambs play;  
We shall be safe, dilly, dilly, out of harm's way."

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

Regina awoke to the sound of Emma whimpering in her sleep. It took her a minute to figure out where she was; she hadn't intended to stay the night, but she realized she must have fallen asleep.

"Emma," Regina said softly, gently shaking her shoulders. Emma's eyes shot open and she immediately started to cry.

"Shh, baby, it's ok," Regina cooed, she sat up and pulled Little Emma onto her lap, wrapping her arms around her and rocking her.

"You didn't leave?" Emma choked out between sobs.

"No, I'm right here. I didn't leave."

"I saw the bad man," Emma said, grabbing on to Regina tighter.

"In your dream?"

Emma nodded.

"Who is the bad man, Emma?" Regina asked, rubbing her back as she rocked her.

"The daddy at the house I was at, before I got lost. He came in my room when you were gone and he took me." Emma started to cry harder, burying her face into Regina's neck.

"I never left you, baby girl. It was only a dream. Nobody's ever going to take you away, I promise." Regina wished there was some way to explain to her that it had actually been twenty-five years since she had been in that man's house, or that even if he was looking for her, Storybrooke was invisible to outsiders. But this Emma didn't know magic was real.

After a few minutes of rocking, Emma's tears stopped, and she turned her head to rest it on Regina's shoulder, staring off to the side of the room. "I was drowning," she whispered.

"In your dream?" Regina asked, again.

Emma hesitated for a moment. "In the bathtub."

"In real life?" Regina asked, feeling that lump growing in her throat again.

"In the bad man's house," Emma replied, still staring off in the distance.

"Emma, this is important. I need to know if that happened in your dream or in real life."

Emma turned to look at Regina for a moment, and then turned away again. "I don't remember."

Regina closed her eyes for a second. "Yes, you do. It's ok, you can tell me, sweetheart. You can tell me anything." She felt like she was on the verge of a mini-breakthrough, but she could tell Emma was starting to shut down.

"I can't tell you. It's a secret."

Regina sighed. "Emma…" her voice trailed off as she tried to find the right words to get her to keep talking.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Emma said, before Regina could continue. Emma stuck her thumb in her mouth and closed her eyes, apparently to indicate the conversation was really over.

Regina continued to rock Emma, and tried to work through this new information in her head. Considering Emma's aversion to the bathtub, Regina figured it was a pretty safe assumption that the near-drowning was real life event, and not just a dream. But she wondered why on earth someone would have told Emma that was a secret.

Regina figured that a five-year-old nearly drowning had to be negligence on the part of the guardian, and she wondered if that's perhaps why they told Emma not to tell. She tried to imagine a scenario wherein it was just an accident. Maybe Little Emma just slipped and fell under the water. Maybe the mother scooped her up right away, and it was childlike fear that convinced Emma that she was drowning. Maybe the mother was afraid of the repercussions if Children's Services found out about the incident, and stupidly told Emma not to tell. In any event, it had to be the mother, right? There was no way it was the father in the room, bathing Little Emma.

Regina's thoughts then turned to the father.  _The bad man_. Regina knew the scenario she was concocting in her head was nothing more than wishful thinking. She couldn't imagine anyone harming the little angel in her arms intentionally, but deep down she feared that the real truth was much more sinister than anything she could allow herself to imagine.

Regina heard a floorboard creak, and looked up to see Henry standing in the doorway, in his pajamas. She was glad that she brought him with her. She wondered if subconsciously she knew she wouldn't make it back home that night, even though she didn't have the intention to stay. She was also glad that Henry had a wardrobe of clothes here as well.

"Is she asleep?" Henry asked, softly.

Regina looked down. Emma's thumb hung half out of her mouth now, and her breathing had become rhythmic. She looked back at Henry and nodded.

Henry walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"How long have you been standing there?" Regina asked in a low voice, as to not wake Emma up again. What she really meant was, 'how much did you hear?'

For his part, Henry knew exactly what Regina was asking. "I heard her talk about drowning, and the bad man."

Regina breathed a heavy sigh. She really didn't want Little Emma's issues to become Henry's problem. She wanted to shield him from as much of it as he could. She knew Adult Emma would never want him to take on that burden.

"Henry," Regina said, looking him in the eyes, "I don't want you to worry about Emma."

"I can't really help it. What do you think happened to her?"

"Listen to me: whatever happened to her in her childhood, she survived it, just keep that in mind. She grew up and she's fine. Just remember that."

"But what if she's not really fine?"

"Then let me and your grandparents worry about that, okay? Because you and I both know, she would never put any of this on you. Even though she's little now - and Henry I commend you for worrying about her and wanting to protect her, I really do – we have to remember to respect what the Adult Emma would want, for her sake, because we will get her back. She's a parent to you Henry, not the other way around."

"You're right, I know," Henry nodded. "I heard you sing her my lullaby."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Were you jealous?" she teased.

Henry smiled. "No. I'm glad you did. You gave me a good childhood, Mom. I don't thank you for that enough, but seeing how you are with Emma… it just reminds me of that."

Regina smiled as she felt her heart swell. She was sure that Henry would never truly understand just how much it meant to her when he told her things like that. "I love you, Henry."

"I love you too, Mom."

"It's late, you should get back to bed. Tomorrow's a school day. I'll see you in the morning."

Henry smiled, and gave Regina a kiss on the cheek before heading back to his room.

Regina sighed again as she moved Emma back to her own spot on the bed, before sliding back down beside her. Emma stirred and little, and sleepily crawled closer so she could lay her head on Regina's chest, but she didn't fully wake up. Regina lightly stroked Emma's hair until she herself drifted back into a dreamless sleep.

It felt like no time has passed when Regina woke again; this time it was to the sound of Henry, David and Mary Margaret's voices from downstairs, as they got ready for their day. Regina had no idea when David had come home, but she was sure he was less than pleased when he discovered she had stayed the night.

Emma was still asleep, so Regina gently moved her back onto her pillow, before getting up. She straightened out her dress, and was grateful that Little Emma didn't have an accident in the night, since she didn't have a change of clothes at the Charmings' loft.

She tiptoed out of the room and made her way quietly down the stairs, wanting to talk to Mary Margaret before Emma woke up.

Downstairs, Regina found Henry just finishing up his cereal at the table, still in his pajamas.  _Fruit Loops_ , she thought to herself,  _go figure._  Mary Margaret and David were in the sitting room, having a deliberately hushed conversation.

Regina patted Henry on the shoulder as she made her way past the table. "Go upstairs and get ready for school, okay?" Henry nodded and got up, knowing full well what she really meant was 'go upstairs so I can talk to your grandparents without worrying you anymore about the welfare of your traumatized, preschool-aged other mother.'

Regina sat down on the couch beside Mary Margaret, as David glared at her from the chair.

"Regina," David started, before she could even begin to mention what Emma had revealed last night. "You really overstepped last night. I called you for advice, not so that you could run over here and cuddle her to sleep like an infant. How are we ever supposed to help her learn to soothe herself, if she knows that if she cries long enough, you'll just run over here and give in to exactly what she wants?"

Regina drew in a deep breath to calm herself before speaking, and tried to remind herself that snapping at David wasn't going to help diffuse this situation. "David, I understand where you're coming from, but you need to understand that Emma is not your typical child. She is very damaged."

"My daughter is not damaged," David shot back, defensively.

"Yes, she is. Take it from someone who knows. I am living proof of what terrible parenting can do to a child."

"So now you're saying we're bad parents?" asked David.

Regina closed her eyes for a moment.  _It's like talking to a brick wall_. "No, David, that's not what I'm saying. Obviously, I don't mean to imply that in the  _six_ days you have had her, you inflicted the kind of damage that gives a child chronic nightmares and causes a five-year-old to suck her thumb and wet the bed. I'm talking about what she went through  _before_  you got her."

"And you're enlightened enough to pick up on all this after one day?" David scoffed.

Regina tried to remind herself that David was frustrated and overwhelmed, but he was making it difficult for her. "Like I said, I grew up with Cora as a mother. I know damage when I see it," she replied, as calmly as she could manage.

"But Regina," Mary Margaret chimed in, "you weren't…  _evil_ until…"

"Until my mother killed Daniel and forced me to marry your father? Yes, thank you, I know. But I'm not talking about evil, I'm talking about damaged. There's a difference." Regina watched Mary Margaret's face as she processed that. She knew the younger woman loved any piece of insight into her mind or her life, and normally Regina hated to give her any, but at this point it was unavoidable.

"She mentioned last night that she almost drowned in the bathtub at her last foster home," Regina continued. "She said she lived with a bad man."

"They didn't say anything about that at the group home when we picked her up," David replied, his tone was softer now.

"Of course they didn't. It was actually twenty-five years ago, the group home wouldn't have any record of it that home, or any place else she'd been. But to Emma, right now, it might as well have been last week."

"She never mentioned that to us," Mary Margaret said, looking almost hurt, "as an adult, I mean. I thought she was starting to trust us with things like that."

"She was five, and it was traumatic… there is a possibility she doesn't even remember it as an adult," Regina tried to reassure her.

Mary Margaret went to speak again, but Regina shushed her, and motioned towards the stairs, where Emma was making a slow descent. Emma had gotten herself dressed in a pair of jeans and a red and purple striped shirt. She had taken out her braid, and her golden curls bounced around her tiny shoulders with every step.

When Emma reached the bottom of the stairs and realized Regina was watching her, she wasted no time running across the room and jumping onto her lap. Regina caught her in her arms.

"You said you weren't going to leave me!" she said, hugging on to Regina.

"I didn't leave, I'm right here."

Emma looked up and pouted when she realized Henry was on his way down the stairs. She turned to Mary Margaret. "When is Henry going to school?"

"Soon, honey," Mary Margaret replied with a smile. She reached out to stroke Emma's cheek, and Emma didn't flinch away, though Regina felt her tense up in her arms. "And you remember what we talked about yesterday? How Daddy and I have to go back to work today, too?"

"Who's watching Emma?" Regina asked. She knew David and Mary Margaret had taken time off work, but she hadn't realized they were both going back so soon.

"Granny. She usually watches Neal, anyway. I didn't plan on going back already, but substitute teachers are in short supply here, so I didn't really have a choice," Mary Margaret explained.

"I don't like her," Emma pouted, "I want Regina to watch me."

"Emma, why don't you go over to the kitchen and Henry can pour you a bowl of cereal for breakfast, ok?" Regina suggested. Emma was about to protest, but seemed to decide against it, and got up to join Henry in the kitchen. Regina shot Henry a small smile, knowing that helping Emma, even with something simple like cereal, would be good for him.

She turned back to David and Mary Margaret and spoke low so that Emma wouldn't hear. "Why don't you let me take her for the day?"

David sighed. "For the same reason you shouldn't have come here last night, because we can't just keep giving in to everything she asks for."

"So you think leaving her with a woman she barely knows, and she just told you she doesn't like, is a better idea? If you want to build trust with her, this is not the way."

"Regina's right," Mary Margaret said, turning to David. "What if we leave her with Granny and she screams and cries the whole time we're gone? That's fair to Granny or Emma."

"Okay, yes, you're right," David finally agreed, but Regina could tell in pained him to admit it.

"You should tell her," Regina told him. "She's having the hardest time bonding with you; go tell her something she wants to hear."

David surprised Regina with a small smile, before he stood up to walk over to the table where Emma now sat with her cereal. She watched as Emma cowered at little as David approached the table, but then her face lit up when he informed her he was going to pack her a bag with extra clothes, so she could go spend the day with Regina.

"Can Neal stay here?" Emma asked.

"Yes, Neal will stay with Granny. You get Regina all to yourself," David replied.

Emma turned to Regina and shot her a big grin, and Regina couldn't help but smile back at her precious face.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

Before leaving the loft with Emma that morning, Regina made sure to get permission from Mary Margaret to take her to get the haircut she so badly needed.

Emma scrunched up her nose as they headed out to the car. "What is a haircut?"

Regina looked down. "You've never had your hair cut?"

Emma shrugged. Judging by the look of Emma's hair, Regina decided it was a distinct possibility that she really never had, even though she found it hard to believe that the first family - the ones who had once planned to keep her - never took her for her first haircut as a toddler.

"Well, a haircut, my darling, is a wonderful thing where I take you to a salon and they put you in a special chair and make you look like a princess," Regina explained, as she buckled Emma in to the backseat of her Mercedes.

"Will I look beautiful?" Emma asked, hopeful.

"Baby, you already are beautiful," Regina replied with a smile, "you'll just be beautiful with much more manageable hair!"

Emma giggled, though Regina was sure she had no idea what manageable hair meant.

"They'll wash your hair for you, too," Regina continued as she started the car, "and I'll ask them to use the best smelling shampoo they have."

"I don't like my hair washed!" Emma protested, panic in her voice, "I'm scared of the bath!"

"It's not a bath, Emma. You sit in a chair and lean back, and only your hair gets wet. No water gets on your face, I promise," Regina reassured her. The child had had one bath in the last six days, Regina knew she was well overdue for a hair wash.

"You trust me, don't you Emma?" Regina asked, looking back at her in the rear view mirror. "You know I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Emma nodded, and turned to look out the window, putting her thumb in her mouth. Regina was starting to realize the thumb-sucking was more than just a habit, it seemed to be Emma's defense mechanism against anything that made her feel uncomfortable.

Regina pulled her car up in front of the salon, and got out, going around to Emma's door to let her out. Emma stared at her with wide, uncertain eyes as she climbed out of the car.

Emma looked around in awe when they got inside. It was very busy for a Monday morning, and Regina wasn't sure how Emma handled crowds of strangers, so she held on tight to her hand as she walked up to the reception desk.

"This is where I get my hair cut," Regina told her. Emma just nodded, and stayed close to Regina's legs. By this point, news had travelled around Storybrooke that this little girl was actually the pint-sized Saviour, so Regina wasn't surprised that despite how busy the salon was, the receptionist told her she could get Emma in right away.

Regina was relieved when Carly, her regular stylist, was available to cut Emma's hair that morning. Despite the number of times now that Regina had had risked everything to save the people of Storybrooke, most of them still saw her as the Evil Queen. Carly – who had been Genevieve in the Enchanted Forest, one of Leopold's servants – was one of the few people in the palace who had made Regina's time there slightly more bearable, and as such, was one of the very few people who got a better life from the Dark Curse. She used to come to Regina's room after working hours, and brush and braid Regina's hair for her. Even though she was only a about a month older than Regina herself, somehow she always made her feel a little safe and comforted back then.

Carly introduced herself to Emma, and asked her to follow her back to the sink. Emma did just that, but maintained her death grip on Regina's hand, to ensure that Regina wouldn't leave her, not that she intended to.

Emma didn't release Regina's hand the entire time Carly washed and conditioned her hair, but Regina was impressed at how calm she was. She clearly didn't have a fear of water, just the bath. Regina was sure Carly's naturally bubbly personality helped, as she chattered on and on to Emma about nothing in particular.

Back at Carly's station, Regina helped Emma climb up onto the booster seat on the styling chair, and Carly draped Emma in a shiny pink cape, clearly designed for children. Emma giggled and watched herself in the mirror as Carly pumped her up higher in the hydraulic chair. For the first time since they arrived, she actually let go of Regina's hand, and Regina was relieved that she was finally feeling comfortable with the whole situation.

Regina stayed close by, never leaving Emma's sight, while Carly cut, dried and styled Emma's hair into a pretty waterfall braid. When she was finished, Carly removed the cutting cape, and Emma scrunched up her nose when Carly held up the mirror to let her see the back.

"What's wrong, honey, don't you like it?" Carly asked.

"I don't look like a princess," Emma pouted.

"Oh! How silly of me," Carly replied, "I'll be right back." Carly headed over to the small box on the reception desk where the stylists kept a collection of small toys for kids after they finished their haircuts. She found a pink plastic tiara with purple, yellow and blue plastic rhinestones all over it.

She returned and placed the tiara on Emma's head. "Better?"

Emma grinned and nodded.

"Well, Princess Emma, shall we head home now?" Regina asked, lifting Emma down from the chair. Emma nodded, and after Regina paid for her haircut, she took Emma's hand and led her back outside.

"Let's hurry to the car, it looks like rain," Regina commented, noting how the sky had become overcast while they were inside. They made it just in time to get into the car before the downpour started.

"My pretty hair's gonna get wrecked in the rain," Emma pouted, as they pulled up in front of Regina's house.

"I think I have an extra umbrella," Regina said. She pretended to reach under the passenger seat, and magically conjured up a child-sized umbrella, out of Emma's sight.

"You're in luck, I do!" She said, holding up the yellow umbrella for Emma to see. Regina opened her own umbrella as she got out of the car, and opened the smaller one to hand to Emma as she opened her door.

Emma took the umbrella and hopped out of the car, landing with a splash in a puddle below. She looked up a Regina, nervously. "Sorry."

Regina smiled. "It's ok, sweetie, it's just a puddle."

"Really?" Emma's eyes lit up, and Regina realized that she had taken 'it's ok' as an open invitation to start jumping in all the puddles at the end of the laneway. Emma giggled uncontrollably as she jumped in the puddles, splashing water all over her jeans.

"Good thing your parents sent you extra clothes!" Regina commented. She thought back to all the times she had told Henry to stop jumping in puddles and getting his clothes all wet, but she couldn't bear to stop Emma when she saw that look of pure, innocent joy in the form of a great big toothy grin on her face.

Regina took a few steps back as Emma jumped harder, splashing muddy droplets of water on Regina's nylons and shoes.

"Don't leave without me!" Emma called out.

"I'm not," Regina replied, but Emma started to run to her anyway. She tripped over the curb and landed with a soft thud, face-down on muddy grass at the end of the yard.

"Oh, Emma," said Regina, helping her back to her feet, "are you okay?"

"Mm-hmm," Emma nodded, pouting. Her bottom lip was shaking, and Regina couldn't tell if she was upset or embarrassed. Regina straightened out Emma's tiara, which hung a little crooked from the jumping, and falling.

"Well, now you're soaked  _and_  filthy. I think it's time to go inside," Regina said, reaching out her hand for Emma. Emma took it, a little more reluctantly than she usually did.

Regina looked back at her as they reached the door. "What's wrong, sweetie?" she asked, as she opened the door and led Emma inside.

Emma stared at the floor. "I got dirty. Do I hafta have a bath?"

Regina turned back and knelt down in front of Emma. "Well, you are very dirty. You really do need a bath."

"But I…"

"Don't like baths, I know. But you've never had a bath in my bathtub. I have bubbles that smell like apples," Regina offered.

Emma stuck out her bottom lip in a big pout. Regina decided to try a different approach. "Sweetheart, don't you think it will feel better to be nice and warm and clean?"

Emma shook her head and pouted harder, crossing her arms. There was that classic Emma stubbornness that Regina was used to.

"Baby, I know you're scared of the bath, but I promise you, I won't let anything bad happen to you. Have I ever lied to you before?"

"No," Emma said, looking at her feet.

"Do you think I would ever let something bad happen to you?"

Emma shook her head, and looked back into Regina's eyes. Regina could feel that she was on the verge of a breakthrough here, and she didn't want to screw this up.

"So how about this: you have a bath, it doesn't have to be long and you don't even need to get your hair wet, you can even leave your tiara on. And then, when you're all done, I'll make you anything you want for lunch. How does that sound?"

"Can I have grilled cheese again?"

"Absolutely," Regina agreed, standing up and taking Emma by the hand. She wanted to get her into the bath as quickly as possible, just in case she changed her mind.

Emma watched Regina with apprehension as she started to fill the tub with warm water and apple scented bubble bath. Regina badly wanted to tell her to take her thumb out of her mouth, since her hands were covered in mud, but she decided against it. If she was right that it was a security thing for Emma, she knew she needed it right now.

Regina turned the water off when the tub was filled about half-way. She didn't want to make it too deep, knowing that Emma was afraid of drowning. She wished there was a way to just reach into the child's memory bank, and know exactly what happened to her, but Regina feared that knowing might not be enough, if she didn't have a way to fix everything.

Regina knelt in front of Little Emma and helped her peel off her wet clothes. She knew Emma could undress herself, but she also knew she was less than eager to do so in this situation. When she pulled her striped shirt over her head – careful not to knock her tiara or ruin her pretty braid - Regina noticed small scars on her abdomen; five small circles, that looked like faded burn marks. They looked old, and Regina wondered how long Emma had been at the bad man's house…. Or if there had been other bad parents before him.

Emma stared at her with frightened eyes, and Regina tried to reassure her that everything would be alright as she lifted her tiny, trembling body up, and placed her in the bathtub. Emma grabbed on to the side of the tub with one hand, and held on tight to Regina's left hand with the other.

"Sweetheart, it's ok, I'm not going to let anything happen to you," Regina tried to reassure her. The water barely reached Emma's chest, but it was obvious that she was still terrified. She started shaking harder, and then the sobs started. Regina immediately hated herself for causing this sweet little girl such obvious distress, but at the same time, she knew she couldn't let her just continue to be afraid of baths forever.

She picked up the cloth with her free hand, letting Emma continue to squeeze onto her other hand, and began to sing as she washed Emma's back, shoulders and arms.

"Lavender's blue, dilly, dilly, Lavender's green,

When you are king, dilly, dilly, I'll be your queen,

Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?

'Twas my own heart dilly, dilly, that told me so."

Regina smiled when she noticed that Emma stopped crying, and was now listening intently to the song. She held out the cloth to Emma, to see if she would take it and continue to wash herself. When Henry was five, Regina would have scrubbed him clean herself without a second thought, but with Little Emma, she was still unsure what demons lurked in her past, and she didn't want to push any boundaries with her.

Emma released the side of the bathtub, but still held on tight to Regina's hand, while she took the cloth and continued to wash herself. Regina smiled. "Sing with me, Sweetheart, and we'll be done before you know it."

"I don't remember the words," Emma whispered.

"You remember the 'dilly dillies', you sing that part, and I'll sing the rest." And so Regina continued on, with Emma chiming in on every 'dilly, dilly'.

"Call up your men, dilly, dilly, set them to work,

Some to the plough, dilly, dilly, some to the fork,

Some to make hay, dilly, dilly, some to cut corn

While you and I, dilly, dilly, keep ourselves warm,

Lavender's green, dilly, dilly, Lavender's blue,

If you love me…."

"Dilly, dilly, I will love you!" Emma finished the line on her own, with a big smile.

"Good girl, Emma, you'll know the whole song in no time," said Regina. "And look, we're all done. You can get out."

Regina lifted Emma out of the tub and wrapped her in a big, white towel that seemed to engulf her almost completely. She then put her arms around her in a big hug, and whispered into her ear, "I'm so proud of you, baby girl."

"Princess," Emma corrected.

"You're right," Regina agreed, "I'm so proud of you, Princess."

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

When Mary Margaret showed up after school on Monday to pick up Emma and drop of Henry, the she and Regina decided that the best course of action for the time being was for Emma to stay with Regina every day while her parents were at work. They decided that Mary Margaret would drop of Emma and pick up Henry each morning, and then pick up Emma and drop Henry off every afternoon.

While Regina was concerned that it meant Henry would get no time with Emma, she did have to agree that it was the best solution available at the time being, to allow her to spend time with Emma, without overstepping her place too much. As much as she hated to admit it, Little Emma was Mary Margaret's daughter, not hers.

It would also give Regina some free time in the early evenings to catch up on work at her office, while Henry did his homework. It was easy for her to take time off when there was no magical beast or villain threatening Storybrooke. A small town with no ties to the outside world did not actually need a mayor in her office five days a week, and her staff was more than equipped to handle the day to day tasks without her supervision.

It went off without a hitch on Tuesday: Emma arrived with her hair still in the waterfall braid, though it was falling out a little, and her plastic tiara in place. Emma and Regina got to spend the day together, playing and reading stories. Regina took her to Granny's for lunch, and then for ice cream after that. She let her run off her excess energy in the backyard until Mary Margaret showed up for the child-exchange. When Regina returned home from her office Tuesday evening, she and Henry got to spend some much needed one-on-one time together.

While Regina did enjoy this arrangement, there was still a part of her that worried about Little Emma every second she was away from her. Over a dozen times on Tuesday evening, she had the urge to call over to the Charmings and make sure everything was ok. She had a hard time sleeping Tuesday night, wondering if Emma was having a nightmare, and worrying that she might be crying for her.

On Wednesday morning, Emma leapt into Regina's arms the second she crossed the doorway. She still had the tiara, though her blonde hair was pulled back into two matching braided pigtails. Her hair smelled slightly of citrus and mint, and Regina realized Emma must have had a bath and a hair wash the night before. Mary Margaret had a big smile on her face, so Regina assumed everything must have gone well. Regina felt an odd mix of relief and jealousy. As much as she truly wanted Emma to have good nights with her parents, a part of her feared that if things were going well, her little princess might start to need her less.

Regina took Emma down to the docks that morning and let her feed the ducks and geese. She wasn't sure if Emma would keep any of these memories when she changed back, but Regina wanted to make sure to give her as many good memories as she could, just in case.

Wednesday afternoon was more playing. Regina was amazed at how carefree Emma seemed now; a stark contrast to the scared little girl she had met not even a week ago. Regina felt a little twinge of sadness when it occurred to her that the fairies were still working diligently to come up with a reversal spell. It was taking some time, since no one had really seen a spell like this before, but she suddenly realized that she wasn't sure if she wanted to let this little girl grow up at all. Still, she knew she really had no choice. Henry needed his other mother, and it wasn't fair to Emma, but a big part of her knew she was going to miss this.

As the afternoon went on, Regina could tell Emma was getting tired, so she put on a movie and they snuggled up together on the couch. Emma was fast asleep by the time Mary Margaret and Henry showed up. Regina left Emma sleeping on the couch as she got up to meet them at the door. Henry gave Regina a quick hug and then headed up to his room with his backpack.

Regina turned to Mary Margaret, who was still grinning like an idiot, just like she was in the morning.

"Where's Emma?" Mary Margaret asked.

"She fell asleep on the couch," Regina replied, "I think I wore her out."

"That's okay. Do you have a minute, before I take her home? I have something to tell you!"

Regina nodded, and Mary Margaret followed her into the kitchen. Mary Margaret just stood there, smiling, until Regina just had to know what her news was. "Ok, what is it?" she asked.

"David and I are having another baby!" Mary Margaret exclaimed.

"What?"

"I'm five weeks along. We got confirmation from Dr. Whale today, but Henry, and now you, are the only ones I've told," Mary Margaret beamed. "We're waiting until I'm three months to tell anyone else, but, you know, you're family."

Regina wasn't quite sure how to react to this information. As well as she had been getting along with Mary Margaret lately, Emma was still the only Charming spawn Regina had any interest in. She also couldn't help but feel a tiny pang of envy every time another woman announced her pregnancy to her. "Well, congratulations, then," she forced herself to say, "you're not going to tell Emma, are you?"

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I?" Mary Margaret asked, confused.

"Because you don't know how she will react to this. She could get jealous, and it could hinder the progress you've made with her so far. I think it would be better to wait until she's back to normal," Regina cautioned.

"No offense, Regina, but you don't know how she will react to this either. She might be thrilled. What little girl wouldn't love to know she's going to have a brand new brother or sister?"

Regina was about to respond when she heard a tiny voice calling to her from the living room.

"Where did you go?" Emma asked, as Regina returned to the living room, "I woke up and you were gone."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I was in the kitchen with your Mommy."

Mary Margaret walked over to Emma and scooped her up. "Ready to go home?"

Emma nodded, reluctantly, and looked back at Regina. Regina knew she didn't want to leave, but the fact that she let Mary Margaret pick her up at all showed definite progress.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning, Princess," Regina smiled at her, as she walked them to the door. "And Snow, think about what I said."

"Snow?" Emma asked, scrunching up her nose. Inwardly, Regina cringed, realizing her mistake.

"It's just a nickname," Mary Margaret said, brushing it off with a small laugh.

"Like Snow White?" Emma asked.

"Like snowflake, because she's just so special," Regina said, with a wink. Emma giggled. Regina noticed Mary Margaret's smile, and remembered that she had no idea that Maleficent had given her that nickname behind her back in the Enchanted Forest. Regina hoped she thought it was just a good quick save, but knowing Mary Margaret, Regina knew she would likely take it as some sort of confirmation that Regina secretly liked her more than she liked to admit.

When Regina returned to the living room, Henry was there, setting up his video game.

"Homework?" she asked, sitting down beside him.

"Done," he replied, with a smile. "Hey, do you think I could come with you to your office tonight?"

"Why?"

Henry shrugged. "I don't know, to keep you company?"

Regina smiled. "I would love that, but I don't think I'm going to go in tonight. We can just hang out here."

"You think she's going to freak out," Henry commented.

"What?"

"Emma. When they tell her about the baby. You think she's going to freak out, and you know they're gonna call you for help when she does. That's why you want to stay here."

Regina nodded. "What do you think?"

"I think she's gonna freak out. She told me once that the first family she had gave her back when they had a kid of their own. That was a long time ago, but to Emma now, that was only two years ago. I told Grandma that, but she thinks this will be different. She thinks that telling her they are having another baby, and still wanting to keep her anyway, will help heal those old wounds... like make her realize that not everyone will just replace her with a new kid, or something. Logically, it makes sense. But Emma's five, she doesn't do logic."

"How did you get so wise?" Regina asked. Henry just laughed.

After dinner, Henry went back to his video game, and Regina curled up on the end of the couch, reading a book. It had been several hours, and Regina was surprised she hadn't heard from the Charmings yet. Perhaps Mary Margaret was right, and Emma actually took the news well.

"Hey, Mom, look," Henry said, nodded towards the window. Regina turned look out, and saw the Charming's truck at the end of the driveway.

"Oh, I forgot I turned my phone on silent when Emma was sleeping!" Regina said, grabbing it from the end table beside her. Three missed calls from Mary Margaret.

Regina got up and opened the door, and waited in the doorway as she watched Mary Margaret let Emma out of the car. She noted that David and Neal weren't with her and wondered what was going on. Emma took off like a rocket in Regina's direction, and Regina scooped her up as soon as she reached her.

Emma's cheeks and eyes were red and puffy, and it was quite evident she had been crying. She squeezed her arms tightly around Regina's neck, as Regina stepped outside to meet Mary Margaret, who was now heading up the walkway with Emma's backpack in hand. Regina hugged Emma tight to her as Mary Margaret approached.

"Don't say it," Mary Margaret said, as she held out Emma's bag to Regina.

"What?" Regina asked, taking the bag, still having no idea what was going on.

"You were right. We shouldn't have told her. I tried to call you."

"I know, I'm sorry. I turned my ringer off when Emma was asleep," Regina replied. Mary Margaret looked like she was about to burst into tears. "What happened?"

"She freaked. We couldn't calm her down. We tried everything we could think of and nothing worked. She screamed and cried until she literally made herself physically sick. I asked her if she wanted me to call you, and of course she did; which, of course, David objected to. When you didn't answer, she screamed more, which in turn got Neal screaming. David took him out for a walk in the stroller, and when I still couldn't get a hold of you, I figured you didn't have your phone or something, so I decided to bring her to you. You're the only one who can comfort her."

Emma grip on Regina's neck loosened, and she could hear her rhythmic breathing, and she knew the child had fallen asleep in her arms, her head resting on her shoulder. Regina watched a couple tears start to fall from Mary Margaret's eyes, and to her surprise, her heart actually hurt for her. "Snow," Regina said softly, trying to think of something to say to comfort her.

"Don't," Mary Margaret shook her head, "it's ok. I know it's not your fault, and it's not her fault. I just want her to be happy."

"It's not your fault either," Regina reminded her.

Mary Margaret gave her a sad smile. "I know. I just wish... well, it doesn't matter. Can you take her tonight? I know she's not your responsibility, but we'll never be able to get her to sleep, and I don't want her to make herself sick again."

"Yes, of course. Does David know?"

Mary Margaret nodded. "I called him before I left the loft. He's not happy about it, but we have no other option here. I'll still come pick up Henry tomorrow for school. Maybe she won't hate me in the morning."

"She doesn't hate you. She just has no idea how to express her feelings. Things will be better in the morning," Regina assured her.

Mary Margaret nodded, and headed back to the truck. Regina stood and watched her leave, thinking of how long she spent trying to escape being her mother. Who would have believed that one day she'd willingly be playing Mommy to Snow White's daughter.

When Mary Margaret had pulled away, Regina carried Emma back into the house. She took her up the stairs and changed her into her pajamas, careful not to wake her, before tucking her into bed with her white blanket. Regina didn't even bother to attempt putting her in the guest bed tonight, and just put her right in her own bed. She made sure to put her little plastic tiara safely on the nightstand beside her. She turned on the light in the hall, and left the door open, just in case Emma woke up, before heading back down to talk to Henry.

"Looks like we were right," Henry commented as Regina came back into the living room, "she freaked."

"Can you pause that for a minute?" Regina asked, as she sat down on the couch. She curled one leg under herself so she could sit facing Henry.

"Yeah, sure," Henry said, pausing the game and turning to her, "what's wrong."

"Henry, I really don't want to worry you or upset you, but I think Emma needs to stay with me until the fairies can figure out a way to change her back. Your grandparents… their hearts are in the right place, and I know they are trying, but Emma is so fragile, and it's not fair to her to let them keep parenting her through trial and error. Emma did more than 'freak' tonight, and your grandparents just aren't equipped to handle it."

Henry nodded slowly, but didn't respond.

"As much as you know it pains me to admit it, it's really not their fault. Snow had a privileged life growing up, there's no denying that. She had two parents who loved and cherished her… obviously, I mean before I came along. And David, he might not have grown up rich by any means, but he had a mother who loved him. Emma hasn't had any of those things, and they can't truly understand what she's going through right now, which is why they are making so many mistakes with her."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Henry asked.

"Because, if this gets ugly, I want you to know where I'm coming from in all of this. I'm hoping it won't, and I really think your grandmother knows that everything I'm doing, I am doing it for Emma. But your grandfather, you know he still sees me as the enemy."

"Mom, you should know, I'll always be on your side," Henry smiled.

"That's sweet, but I don't want you to pick a side. That's not what this is about, that's what I'm trying to get at. It's not about me versus them… it's about Emma, and what will benefit her the most."

"I know, I understand. And Mom, I'm glad she has you," Henry said.

"I'm so proud of you, Henry," Regina smiled.

"Why?"

"Because of how well you're handling all of this. It just reminds me of how much you've grown, into such a mature young man."

"Mom!" Henry scoffed, turning to restart his video game. Regina could tell she was embarrassing him a little, but she couldn't help but notice the small smile on his lips.

Moments later, she heard the distinct sound of crying, and she got up to check on Emma. Emma was waiting for her on the stairs, blanket in hand, thumb in her mouth. She was nearly the spitting image of how she had looked the first night she stayed over.

"I had a bad dream," Emma whimpered, as Regina headed up the stairs, "can you come lay with me?"

"Of course, baby girl," Regina said, picking her up and hugging her close. She no longer cared what David would say about Emma needing to learn to self-soothe, or not giving in to her every whim. The only thing that concerned her at this point, was doing whatever it took to comfort Emma and make her feel safe.

She put Emma back into bed and crawled in next to her. Emma snuggled up close and Regina sang to her, Emma chiming in on the "dilly dillies" in a soft, sleepy voice, as her eyes slowly closed. Regina continued stroking Emma's hair gently, long after the song was done and she thought Emma was asleep.

"Regina?" Emma whispered, surprising Regina.

"Yes, baby?"

"Will you never leave me?" Emma asked, her eyes still closed.

"Never."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

When Regina woke the next morning, Emma wasn't in her bed. She looked around the room, but still found no sign of her. She glanced into Henry's room as she made her way down the hallway; it was early, and he was still asleep.

Downstairs, she finally found Emma sitting on the floor of the living room, with Henry's storybook open in front of her. Regina cringed inwardly when she saw it was open to the story of Snow White and Prince Charming's wedding. She was suddenly grateful that Henry had ripped out the pages about Baby Emma. She knew this little Emma couldn't read, but she would definitely recognize her blanket in the picture, and she would be full of questions.

"What are you doing, sweetheart?" Regina asked, sitting down on the couch.

Emma closed the book and handed it to Regina, quickly scrambling up on the couch beside her. "Can you read me this?"

Regina gave her a small smile. "Well, this is Henry's special book, so we'll have to ask him. But, he's still asleep," she said, placing the book on the coffee table, "so I thought, maybe while it's still just you and me, we could talk about what happened last night?"

"Because I was bad?" Emma asked, looking down.

"No, you weren't bad. But you were upset, weren't you?"

Emma nodded.

"I want to know why you were upset, so I can help you feel better."

"Because Mommy and Daddy are getting a new baby," Emma said with a pout.

"They're having a new baby, yes. But not for another eight months or so."

"They just got me, why do they need to get another baby?" Emma asked, looking up.

It occurred to her then that Emma wasn't making the distinction between having a baby, and bringing home a new foster child. "Emma, they're not getting a baby, they're having a baby. The baby is growing inside your mommy's tummy, just like you and Neal did, before each of you were born."

"What's going to happen to me?"

"What do you mean?"

"When Neal cries someone gets him. If there's two babies and they cry, two people will have to get them, and I will be all alone. If I cry, there won't be anybody left to hug me."

"Emma, that's not the way it works."

"Yes it is!" Emma pouted. "Every house I am in, the parents only care about the babies. No one cares about the kids. No one cares about me. When they get too many babies, they just send me back."

"Emma," Regina said, taking Emma's little face her in hands, "no one is ever sending you back, ever again."

"I want to sleep over at your house again tonight," Emma said.

"You slept at my house last night," Regina reminded her.

"That didn't count! I want to have a fun sleepover," Emma replied.

"Ok, but only if your mommy says it's ok. We'll ask her when she comes to pick Henry up for school." Truthfully, Regina wanted Emma to stay again tonight, regardless, but she was glad that Emma brought it up. At least that way it was her idea.

Mary Margaret showed up a little earlier than normal that morning, and Henry and Emma were still eating breakfast in the dining room when she arrived.

"I talked to Blue last night," Mary Margaret told Regina in a hushed voice in the foyer, "she thinks they are pretty close to creating a reversal spell. It should only be a matter of days."

Regina could see the obvious relief on Mary Margaret's face as she told her the news, but she couldn't help but feel sad at the prospect of possibly losing Little Emma in a few days.

"David and I just can't wait for everything to get back to normal. I know that when we have the real Emma back, she'll be happy about the new baby," Mary Margaret continued.

Regina bit her tongue to avoid saying something she would regret. While she understood what she meant, she wondered if Mary Margaret really didn't understand that the little girl in the other room still was the  _real_ Emma. She knew that Mary Margaret was elated about her brand new bundle of joy, but that child was still a fetus, and Emma was a living, breathing child who needed their attention now.

"She wants to sleep here again tonight," Regina said, finally.

"That's fine," Mary Margaret agreed.

"Is it?" Regina raised an eyebrow. She had expected a debate. She figured the Charmings would want her back, knowing they didn't have much time left of her being small.

"Yes, of course. She likes spending time with you. She can come home tomorrow when I drop Henry off from school."

Regina just nodded. She couldn't help but feel, now that Mary Margaret was on the verge of getting the daughter she knew back, that she had kind of written off Little Emma.

Mary Margaret gave Emma a hug and kiss before she left with Henry, but Emma seemed genuinely disinterested in her mother's attention at the moment. Mary Margaret still seemed satisfied, and Regina figured anything was better than the tantrum to end all tantrums from the previous night.

Regina took Emma to the park that morning and let her play. She took her out for lunch again, and when Emma asked for ice cream, Regina was more than happy to oblige. She had just taken her out for ice cream two days ago, but with the idea that their time together might be limited now, she felt that twice in one week was alright.

Regina smiled as she watched Emma lick her cone. She had ice cream all over her face and hands, but she seemed to be having the time of her life. Regina wondered again if any of these memories would stick with Emma when she reverted back. For the first time, she also started wondering what this would mean for the two of them, moving forward.

In just a week, Regina had developed such a strong bond with this little girl. Even if Emma lost these memories, Regina knew she herself would still have them, and she couldn't imagine that bond just going away. She supposed Adult Emma wouldn't mind Regina's new-found attachment to her, even if she didn't remember their week together. After all, it was always Emma who was pushing for them to have a better relationship with one another. Looking at her little face now, Regina suddenly regretted all the times she had pushed her away. She had always assumed Emma pursued her because she thought she needed a friend, but now she wondered if it was really Emma that had needed a friend all along.

That evening, after Henry had returned from school and dinner was eaten, Regina needed to go to her office to catch up on some work, so she brought Henry and Emma with her. Henry brought some books to read to Emma on the couch while Regina worked.

Regina couldn't help but glance up at them every few moments, thinking how adorable they looked together. She kind of regretted that she never adopted a second child, to give Henry a sibling. She supposed, though, it wasn't too late for Emma to give him one, if she chose to, one day.

There was a knock at the office door, and Regina looked up to see one of her assistants standing there.

"Madam Mayor, may I borrow you for a moment?"

Regina nodded and stood up. She glanced over at the couch and saw Emma looking at her, panicked.

"Emma, I'm going to be right down the hall. I won't be long. You stay with Henry and he'll keep reading to you, ok?"

Emma nodded reluctantly, and sank back down into her seat.

Regina returned fifteen minutes later, and Henry was reading a story that sounded familiar. She looked over and saw that he had his storybook open over his and Emma's laps, reading her a story about dwarfs hatching from eggs.

"Henry," Regina said, in a cautionary tone.

"Don't worry, Mom. I'm skipping the parts with the E-V-I-L-Q-U-E-E-N," Henry assured her.

"Don't skip parts!" Emma protested. "I want to hear about the… uh… ee vee… uh…"

"Trust me, sweetheart, you don't. Those parts are boring. And terribly written, I might add," Regina said, returning to her desk.

Emma looked at Henry, but he just laughed and continued the story they were already reading.

By the time Regina was finished her work, Emma had fallen asleep, leaning against Henry's arm. Regina walked over and smiled.

"I think she likes me now," Henry commented.

"I think you might be right. I guess that storybook was a good choice after all."

"Well, she asked me to read it. When I first brought Emma Storybrooke, it was the book that brought us together then, and I thought maybe it would work again on Little Emma," Henry said.

"It would appear you were right," Regina replied, as she reached down to pick Emma up.

"Grandma said the fairies are close to making a reversal spell," Henry said, standing.

"Yes, I heard," Regina nodded.

"Are you sad about it?" Henry asked.

"No, why would I be sad?"

Henry smiled, "because I think you like this Little Emma."

"Only because she reminds me of little you," Regina replied, turning to head for the door. It was half-true, but her fondness for Little Emma went much deeper than just reminding Regina of Henry when he was small.

Regina had thought Emma would be out for the night, but to her surprise, she woke up in the car when they pulled in to the drive way, with a brand new bout of energy. Regina let her play for a while, and then brought her some paper and coloured markers, and asked her to draw a picture, to help her settle down.

About half an hour later, Emma returned to Regina with her masterpiece in hand. Regina put her book down as Emma climbed up in her lap to show her her artwork. Henry pretended to focus on his video game, but Regina caught him looking at the picture from the corner of her eye.

"This is me," Emma pointed to a stick figure in red, with yellow lines for hair and what looked like a spiky pink crown on her head. "That's my tiara, because I'm a princess."

"Of course," Regina nodded, smiling.

"And that's you," Emma pointed out the taller purple stick figure, with black hair and a big red smile. The Regina-stick-person also had a spiky pink crown. "You're the Queen and this is your crown. And you're so happy because Princess Emma is there."

"I'm always happy when you're here," Regina agreed.

"That's Henry." Emma showed her the third stick figure, who had a brown square in front of him, which Regina assumed was the storybook.

"Where's Henry's crown?" Regina asked.

Emma laughed. "Boys don't wear crowns! Crowns are for girls! Henry has his book because he's the reader and he's the smartest boy in the whole world."

Regina glanced up and caught Henry grinning.

"And this is our castle, where we all live happily ever after!"

"You, me and Henry?"

Emma nodded. "Do you like it?"

"I love it," Regina smiled. "Let's go hang it on the fridge."

Emma looked at Regina, confused, but followed her to the kitchen anyway. Regina wondered if anyone had ever hung up anything Emma had made, but from the look on her face, she guessed that was a no. Regina pulled a magnet out of the drawer and hung Emma's masterpiece on the door.

"Now everyone can see it," Emma grinned.

"Exactly," Regina agreed.

Emma yawned as she proudly admired her picture.

"I know a little Princess who is getting very tired," Regina said, picking her up. She had worried that she might be picking up the child too often, but now that she knew she might only have a few days left to do it, she wanted to carry her all the time. Emma put her arms around Regina and laid her head on her shoulder, like she always did.

"Let's go tell Henry it's bed time," Regina said, heading back to the living room. Emma nodded.

"Fifteen more minutes, ok Henry?" Regina said, as they returned to the room.

"Ok, good night Mom," Henry replied, turning back to look at them.

"Good night, Henry," said Regina.

"Good night, Henry," Emma repeated, softly.

"Good night, Kid," Henry replied with a wink. Regina smiled, knowing that Adult Emma would love that Henry had used her nickname for him. As sad as she was that Emma might be turned back soon, for Henry's sake, she was glad. She had spent a long time fighting to be his only mother. When she realized that was no longer possible, she had begrudgingly accepted that Emma was always going to be there. As much as she tried to be everything for Henry, now she had to admit, he really did need both of his mothers.

When they were both changed into their pajamas, Regina and Emma snuggled into bed together, like they always did. Out of everything, Regina realized that cuddling Emma, and singing her to sleep, was what she was going to miss the most.

Emma knew nearly all the words to their lullaby now, and it warmed Regina's heart to hear that little voice singing along with her.

"Good night, Regina," Emma whispered, when they finished singing.

Regina leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Good night, my Princess."

"I love you," Emma whispered.

That caught Regina by surprise. She smiled as she felt tears welling up in her eyes. She pulled Emma closer, and whispered, "I love you, too."

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

Friday morning started off as normal as any other morning that week. Emma got up and dressed herself in a pair of beige cargo pants and a burgundy long sleeve shirt. Regina brushed and braided her hair, making sure she didn't forget to add her tiara. They joined Henry downstairs where Regina made breakfast. Sitting at the table, looking and Henry and Emma, Regina couldn't help but think how perfect they looked, like a little family.

She tried not to let herself think like that, because she knew it would only cause her heartbreak down the road if she got too attached to Emma in this state. She feared, though, that it was too late, and she was already too attached.

Mary Margaret picked up Henry in the morning, like always, and to Regina's relief, had no news for her this morning. Between babies on the way, and little girls soon to be grown up, Regina wasn't ready for any more changes at the moment.

After Henry had left, Emma headed off to play while Regina cleaned up from breakfast. She was just wiping off the counter when she heard Emma crying from the other room.

"What's wrong, honey?" Regina asked as she hurried into the room.

Emma held up her hands, half a broken tiara in each one, and looked up and Regina, whimpering.

"Oh, Princess, I'm so sorry," Regina said, kneeling down on the floor in front of her.

"I'm not a princess anymore. I can't be a princess without a crown," Emma said, sniffling, trying to hold back more tears.

"A crown isn't what makes someone a princess," Regina said, lifting Emma up and sitting down on the coach with her. She wished she could tell this child that she was actually of royal descent in another realm.

"What does?" Emma asked.

"Being a princess comes from inside, and you will always be my princess," Regina replied.

"I'm still sad about my crown," Emma pouted, dropping the broken pieces into Regina's lap.

"I know, sweetheart, and it's ok to be sad when you lose something special."

"I don't feel like playing anymore. Can we watch a movie?"

"Of course, baby." Regina put the broken tiara on the end table as Emma climbed off her lap, letting her get up to put a movie on.

When she sat back down, Emma curled up beside Regina on the couch, laying her head on Regina's leg, staring at the movie on TV. Regina stroked Emma's hair with one hand, while she went about trying to answer work e-mails from her phone with the other. She was surprised at how natural this had whole situation had begun to feel to her, after such a short time.

"Regina?" Emma's little voice spoke up, about half an hour into the movie.

"Yes, baby?" Regina asked, putting her phone down.

"Can I stay with you?"

Regina smiled. "I thought you already were staying with me."

"No, I mean forever."

Regina sighed and pulled Emma up onto her lap, so she could look at her face. "Is that what you want?"

Emma nodded.

Regina kissed Emma on the forehead, and pulled her in close for a hug. "Baby, you know I would love nothing more than to keep you forever, but I'm not your mother. Your mommy and daddy love you very much, and I can't steal you away from them, but I will always be here for you, Emma."

"It's not fair!" Emma pouted, pulling herself out of Regina's hug, but remaining on her lap.

"What's not fair?"

"I had to stay with bad people and I wasn't allowed to leave. But you're nice to me and I'm not allowed to stay," Emma huffed, tears welling up in her eyes.

Regina felt sick. Emma was right. Nothing about her life had been fair to this point.

"Sweetheart, just because you can't stay at my house forever, doesn't mean I can't stay in your life forever. I'm not going to make you leave until you're ready, but your parents love you and want you, too."

Emma continued to pout, and Regina started to wonder if there was more to this than Emma simply wanting to stay with her. "Emma, is something else bothering you?" she asked.

"I never get to keep anything good," Emma replied.

"You mean your crown?"

"Everything good goes away. Only the bad things stay."

"What bad things, Emma?" Regina asked.

"I'm worried about the bad man," Emma said, staring at the wall.

"The bad man can't get you here, baby. You know I will never let him hurt you."

"But what about when I'm at home and you're not there?" Emma asked.

"Then your parents will protect you," Regina replied.

"But my daddy is a man."

Regina took a deep breath. "Your daddy loves you Emma, he would never hurt you."

"The bad man said he loved me, and he hurt me. Boys do bad things."

"What did the bad man do, Emma?"

"It's a secret."

"Do you want it to be a secret?"

Emma shook her head, no.

"Then it's not a secret. You can tell me, if you want to," Regina said.

Emma turned to look at her again with wide eyes for a few moments, as if she were weighing the pros and cons in of telling her secret in her mind. She turned away and lifted her hand, holding up her pointer finger. She stared at her own finger for a long time. Regina couldn't figure out what Emma was doing, but the child looked so lost in thought that she didn't want to say anything, and risk Emma shutting down.

"He put his finger," Emma said finally. She turned to look at Regina again, and then moved her own finger to point at the apex of her thighs. "He put his finger here, and it hurted."

Regina inhaled sharply and pulled Emma close to her again, holding her head against her chest. "In the bathtub?" she whispered.

"Sometimes," Emma replied. "Sometimes in my bed when I was sleeping, and it waked me up."

Regina felt hot tears rolling down her cheeks, as Emma was confirming all the things she had feared. "I'm so, so sorry Emma. And I promise you, nothing like that will ever happen to you again."

"Something else happened there."

"What else happened?" Regina asked. She held her breath waiting for Emma to respond.

"I almost drowned," Emma replied.

"How?"

"In the bath, after the man hurted me, I was crying. He got mad and he called the mommy. The mommy said, 'why are you crying?'" Emma paused, and started playing with the hem of her shirt.

"What did you say?" Regina asked, prompting her to continue.

"I said I was scared. And she said, 'you don't know what scared is.'" Emma paused again, and Regina looked down at her face. Emma was staring blankly at the wall, and Regina realized she was dissociating herself from the events. She figured that must be another coping mechanism, to help her deal with it.

"Emma, what did she do?" Regina asked, even though she feared she already knew the answer.

"She pushed me under the water," Emma replied, "and she put her hand on me so I couldn't get up. Water got in my mouth and I couldn't breathe. Then she let me get up and she said never tell anyone what she did, or I would be in worse trouble. But I kept coughing and I couldn't stop and I threw up in the bath. I had to go to the hospital."

"What happened after that?"

"I don't know. The next day I was lost and the police found me."

Regina cringed. Emma had been in the group home one week before the Charmings found her. She had been in Storybrooke now for two weeks. In Little Emma's timeline, this near-drowning only happened three weeks ago.

Another, more terrifying realization followed that one: Little Emma thought her stay with the bad man was ended when she got lost and the police found her, but, in reality, Emma had been in that man's house twenty-five years ago, and never gotten lost. Regina wondered how long she was there after the near-drowning. If she had really done what they told her to all those years ago, and kept what happened a secret, there was a chance that Emma had actually gone back to that house after her trip to the hospital.

Regina held her tighter. "You're safe now, Emma, I promise," she said, as she rocked her, "no one will ever hurt you like that again."  _Because if they do, I'll incinerate them myself._

"Can I stay here again tonight?" Emma asked.

"Of course you can," Regina replied. She knew the Charmings had intended to take Emma home tonight, but Regina figured after all of this, she would just have to inform them that that wasn't happening.

Regina sat and held Emma for some time after that, playing over everything she had said in her mind. She debated if she should tell the Charmings. On one hand, they were her parents, and in the off-chance that the fairies were wrong, and they weren't on the verge of reversing the spell, Emma could still be stuck as a child permanently. They would need to know so they could handle her appropriately moving forward. On the other hand, it was more likely that the fairies would actually come up with a reversal spell any day now, and Regina didn't know if Emma remembered the bad man, as an adult. If she did, she clearly hadn't told her parents, and perhaps that was because she didn't want them to know. If she didn't, then telling them now might open a whole can of worms that Adult Emma wouldn't want to deal with.

Regina sighed, audibly, causing Emma to look up at her.

"Will you not tell anyone what I told you?" Emma asked, as if she were reading Regina's thoughts, "'cause it's a secret."

"Okay," Regina whispered.

Regina didn't let go of Emma until lunch time, when she finally had to get up and make her something to eat. For her part, Emma seemed fine after the revelation, and after lunch resumed playing as if no tragedy had struck her beloved tiara earlier that day.

In the afternoon, Regina tried to call Mary Margaret, but reached her voicemail instead. She left a brief message telling her that she thought Emma should stay another night, and asking her to call back, which she never did. Regina was in the kitchen, prepping for dinner, when the Charmings arrived with Henry. Henry, of course, had a key and let them in, which Regina didn't hear. She wasn't aware of their presence until she heard Emma start to wail from the other room.

Regina ran back into the living room, just in time for Emma to fling herself against Regina's legs. Regina scooped Emma up, and held her tight, as Emma buried her face into Regina's shoulder, and held on to Regina's neck like her life depending on it.

"What is going on?" Regina asked. Henry took the opportunity to silently leave the room, for which Regina was grateful. She didn't want him in the middle of this.

"We came to pick up our daughter," David said, taking a step towards Regina. Regina instinctively took a step back.

"They said I hafta go home!" Emma wailed. "Please don't make me go!"

"I'm not going to," Regina said, rubbing Emma's back.

"No offense, Regina, but that's not your call," David retorted.

Regina looked over at Mary Margaret, who was remaining silent, and wondered which side she was taking. She assumed that David's presence must have meant that Mary Margaret did hear her message, and had informed her husband.

"It's what Emma wants," Regina replied flatly.

"She's five. And we're her parents. We decide what's best for her, not you," David countered.

"You don't have a clue what's best for her," Regina snapped back, putting her hand protectively on the back of Emma's head.

"You're not her mother. You don't get a say. We let you play house with Emma long enough, but it's time for her to be home, with her family, where she belongs." David took another step towards Emma, and Regina turned her body to block his attempt to reach her. Emma still had a death grip around her neck, and her tiny body was shaking. Regina tried to keep herself calm, but deep down she knew she'd rather incinerate David than hand over this child right now.

"David, stop," Mary Margaret finally spoke up, no doubt recognizing that look in Regina's eyes. "Look at Emma, she's terrified. This needs to stop."

David sighed, but he didn't look like he was ready to concede just yet. Regina knew she needed to take a different approach.

"David, I know how hard this situation is, because I've been in your place. It killed me when Henry went to live with you after…" Regina stopped herself before adding  _the curse broke,_ remembering that little ears were always listening _._ "You know I tried everything to get him back, but hindsight, you were right. It was the best thing for him, at the time. And now you need to start thinking about what's best for Emma, at this time."

"And you think you're the best thing for her?" David asked, his tone much softer now.

"At this point? Yes, I do," Regina replied.

David closed his eyes and sighed, before looking back at Regina. "Okay," he nodded. Emma turned her head to look back at David. "You can stay here with Regina, Emma. We won't make you leave."

Emma didn't respond, just continued staring.

"Just know that we love you," David continued.

"She knows," Regina assured him. At this point, she knew Emma was too emotionally drained to actually respond to David herself.

Mary Margaret stepped up and gave Emma a kiss on the forehead. "I love you, sweetheart," she said, before turning her eyes to meet Regina's. "Thank you, for everything. I don't know what we would have done without you, in all of this."

Regina offered her a small smile, before they said their good byes and the Charmings finally left. She would never admit it to Snow, but she did feel like she owed her, a lot, considering everything she put her through. But she was starting to feel like she owed Emma even more, when she considered that this little girl would have never ended up in the bad man's house at all, if it weren't for the Dark Curse. While she knew she couldn't go back and take it all back, she was at least grateful for the second best thing: a chance to make life a little better for the little girl whose life she had unknowingly destroyed.

"Come on, Princess, let's get you changed, then we can have dinner," Regina said, softly. Emma's clothes were soaked with sweat from crying and shaking.

"Can I have a bath first?" Emma asked.

"You want a bath?" Regina was shocked; that was the last thing she ever expected to come out of Emma's mouth, especially today.

"Mm-hm," Emma nodded. "You made me not scared of the bath anymore. And I want bubbles."

"Anything you want, Princess," Regina said, smiling as she took Emma upstairs.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

Regina didn't get much sleep Friday night, not that it came as a surprise to her. She could never sleep when she was worried, and that night, her mind was overflowing with worry. She worried about Emma's past, and about Emma's future. She worried about what would happen when the fairies reversed the spell. She worried about what Emma had actually gone through after the hospital, when she was actually five, and she worried about the countless other children who had probably stayed in that house with those people, before and after Emma. She also worried about every person Emma had been with after that, and how they had handled her.

She imagined little Emma, twenty-five years ago, crying in the bathtub, or waking up screaming from a nightmare. She wondered if anyone ever held her then, and told her everything would be okay. She knew the chances of that were slim. Considering how guarded Emma had grown up to be, it was obvious to her that no one had ever taken the time to help this little girl, when she was actually a little girl and needed it the most. She thought about the grown-up Emma, and how many times she had pushed her away, or said something nasty to her, and she wished she could take it all back.

Regina ended up spending most of the night just watching Emma sleep. She looked like an angel, and for the life of her, Regina couldn't understand how anyone could harm such a beautiful, innocent child.

Regina finally drifted off to sleep just a few short hours before the sun rose again. When she awoke, Emma was sitting on the floor in the hallway, right outside her door, colouring a picture. She had dressed herself in a fuchsia skirt, with a pink shirt and purple and pink striped leggings. Regina smiled, trying to imagine the adult Miss Swan in those colours. Regina doubted if she even  _owned_  anything in pink, let alone an array of shades of pink, all in one outfit.

Regina quickly got herself changed, and fixed her hair, before heading out to the hallway.

"What are you drawing?" Regina asked, joining Emma on the floor.

"A picture of the bad man," Emma replied, without looking up.

Regina frowned. "Why would you draw that, Emma?"

Emma stopped, and looked up, cocking her head to the side. "So you know what he looks like, in case he ever comes here."

"He's never going to come here," Regina replied.

"But just in case…" Emma said, returning to her drawing. "He has brown hair and brown eyes. But not pretty like your eyes. His eyes are mean. And he has an earring on one ear, and a long scar on his arm. And his name is…"

"Emma, do you know his name?" Regina asked, as Emma's voice trailed off.

Emma nodded.

"What is it?"

"Paul," Emma replied, shuddering at the name.

"Do you know his last name?"

"It's the same as a colour," Emma said, as she drew a jagged, angry frown on the man's face in her picture.

"Which colour, Emma? Black? Brown?"

Emma shrugged. "I can't remember."

"Okay, that's alright. Do you remember anything else about him?"

"He smelled like pennies," Emma replied.

"Like copper?" Regina asked.

Emma shrugged. "I don't know, just like pennies. And he had a loud voice, and the mommy would always say 'you're always so loud when you come home from work, Paul! Why don't you ever shut up!'"

"Do you remember the mommy's name?"

"Lindy," Emma replied, "but that wasn't her real name. That's what she said to call her."

"What was her real name?"

"I don't remember. Paul and Lindy fighted every day. And I hided under the bed, but I could hear them. And Lindy always yelled, 'I hate you! Why don't you go back to Boston!'"

"You didn't live in Boston when you were with them?" Regina asked, realizing she had only just assumed that she had all along, since that's where the group home that the Charmings had found her in was.

"No. I don't know where I was," Emma shrugged, as if it were no big deal. Regina wondered if Emma ever knew where she was living when she was little. "Look, it's done." Emma held up the picture for Regina to see.

"Can I keep this?" Regina asked.

Emma handed her the picture. "Yeah, you have to. So you know what he looks like and you never let him come here."

Regina noticed another picture on the floor: A pink stick figure with a sad face and yellow hair. "Is that you?"

Emma nodded, looking down sadly at the picture on the floor. "It's Princess Emma and she's sad because her crown is gone."

"Wait right here. I think I have something that will make you feel better," Regina said, and hurried back into her room. She grabbed a pen and flipped over the picture of the bad man, quickly jotting down everything Emma had just said about him on the back of the paper, before folding it and tucking it into her dresser drawer. She then held up her hand and conjured up a pretty silver-coloured tiara, with shiny clear rhinestones that looked like diamonds.

"Come here, Emma," Regina called to her, holding the tiara up so Emma wouldn't see it on her way in. She ushered Emma over to the full length mirror, and placed the new tiara on Emma's head.

Emma's eyes lit up, and she spun around to hug Regina. "I love it! It's even better than my old one!"

Regina picked Emma up, as Emma turned to admire her tiara in the mirror again, still grinning from ear to ear. "This one is made of metal, so it won't break," Regina assured her.  _And even if it does, there's an endless supply of magic where that came from_.

"I'm hungry. Can we have breakfast now?" Emma asked.

"Of course." Regina put her down and they headed downstairs.

"Wow, Emma, I like your new crown," Henry commented, as he came to join them in the kitchen.

"I'm a princess again!" Emma exclaimed.

There was a knock at the door just as Regina was putting breakfast out on the table.

"Are we expecting someone?" Henry asked.

"Not that I know of. Keep an eye on Emma, ok? I'm going to go see who it is," Regina replied. She didn't think the Charmings would show up unannounced after last night, but aside from them, no one else really paid her many visits at home.

Her heart sank when she opened the door and saw the Blue Fairy standing there, with a small vial in her hand. She didn't have to ask to know what that was.

Regina glanced back to make sure Emma wasn't watching, and then stepped out on the porch to talk to Blue, closing the door behind her.

"Is that the reversal spell?" Regina asked, nodding toward the vial.

Blue nodded. "Yes."

"And you're sure it will work?"

"Yes, we tested it," Blue nodded. Regina didn't want to ask how they possibly tested it. She had found with the Blue Fairy, sometimes not knowing was best.

"Will she remember these last few weeks, when she… grows up?" Regina asked. Sometimes she forgot how strange this situation actually was, until she had to say things like that out loud.

"It's hard to say," Blue answered. "I think it's about a fifty-fifty chance. For her sake though, maybe it's better if she doesn't remember."

"Why would you say that?" Regina asked, slightly offended, assuming that Blue was insinuating that Emma would be better off forgetting her time with her.

"Well, I went to the Charmings' loft first, assuming that's where Emma would be. They told me she was here with you, but not before filling me in on how rough these weeks were, with the crying and nightmares and tantrums. Emma had a rough childhood, I'm sure she would love to forget about round two."

"I can assure you, it wasn't all bad, this time around," Regina replied.

Blue raised an eyebrow, and Regina wasn't surprised that she wouldn't believe the Evil Queen could actually give the tiny Saviour some good memories, but it didn't really matter what she thought anyway. Regina knew that she and Emma knew the truth, and that's all she cared about.

"How does it work?" Regina asked, holding out her hand for the vial.

"Have her drink it before she goes to sleep tonight. You can add it to some juice or something, we made sure it was flavourless. It will start to work as soon as she falls asleep. She'll age 25 years in about 8 hours. You'll need to stay with her and watch her though. If she wakes up, you'll need to get her back to sleep, because once the spell starts, it won't stop. If she wakes up, she won't know what's happening, and she'll continue to rapidly age."

"And you told the Charmings all this as well?"

Blue nodded, finally handing Regina the vial.

"And they are fine with me giving it to her? They don't want to be the ones to spend this last night with her, as a child?"

"There was some debate, but they both agreed they'd probably never get her to go to sleep. And if she woke up, they'd never get her calmed down. I'm not going to lie, Regina, it took me by surprise, but they said it would be best if she stays with you. Mary Margaret seems to think you are the best thing for her right now."

"So she'll wake again when she reaches her proper age?" Regina didn't normally ask so many questions about spells, but this one was concerning to her, because she had never used anything like it before.

"Well, we're hoping she stays asleep that long. We tried to make it work quicker, but we couldn't. I supposed so long as she wakes up at a point in her time line where she knows about magic, she'll be alright, you can tell her what's happening. Her memories will come back at her rapid-fire while she ages. Lord help you if she wakes up as an adult at a point before she met you. Or even when she did know you, before the curse broke."

"Thanks for the bout of confidence," Regina said, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry," Blue shrugged, and headed on her way.

"I hate fairies," Regina muttered to herself, as she turned back to her door. She stepped back inside, dropping the vial into her pocket. When she returned to the dining room, Henry was sitting there, alone.

"Where's Emma?" Regina asked.

Henry nodded towards the stairs, where Emma was sitting on the bottom step, talking to one of Henry's old teddy bears that he had given her to play with earlier in the week.

"I think that's one of her royal subjects," Henry said, with a smile.

Regina didn't respond.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Henry asked, clearly noticing the distressed look on this mother's face. "Who was at the door?"

Regina filled him in on the reversal spell, and how this would be their last day with Little Emma.

"You don't want to give it to her, do you?" Henry asked. Regina thought that sometimes he was too perceptive for his own good.

"Honestly, no," she replied, "but I have to. I would love nothing more than to destroy this vial right now, and give Emma the happy childhood she deserves, but it's not my choice and it's not fair to her, or to you."

"I'll miss her like this, too," Henry said, watching Emma giggle with the teddy bear on the stairs, "but I miss her more as my mom."

"I know you do," Regina nodded.

"Well, if this is her last day of childhood, I guess we better make it a good one," Henry said with a smile.

"I think you're right," Regina nodded. "And we need to include your grandparents."

Henry paused for a moment, and Regina could tell he was coming up with something. "What if we throw her a birthday party?" Henry suggested.

"It's only September, her birthday is over a month away," Regina replied, though she didn't really think it was a bad idea.

"You know her birthday?" Henry asked.

Regina just smiled, though she was cringing inwardly. The only reason she remembered Emma's birthday, was that it just so happened to correspond with the day she cast the Dark Curse.

"A birthday party is a great idea," she said, avoiding the question. "Call your grandparents and tell them to come over this afternoon. We'll give her a birthday fit for a princess, with dinner and cake a presents." The wheels were turning in Regina's head, as she imagined what kind of elaborate party she could conjure up with a little magic.

"Presents? She turns back to an adult tomorrow," Henry reminded her.

"She doesn't know that. It's not about the presents, it's about the memories," Regina replied.

Emma spent the morning playing away, completely oblivious to what Henry and Regina were planning. Regina decided it was best to keep the party a surprise for now. She knew that Little Emma's timeline was screwed up, and she had no real concept of what the actual date was, so she figured it would not be too hard to convince her that it was, in fact, her birthday today.

After lunch, Henry took Emma outside to play in the backyard, while Regina went to work setting up for the party. She went a little over board with the decorations, in an attempt to make up for every birthday party she was sure Emma had missed out on as a child.

From her magic, she produced pink and purple streamers draped from the ceiling of the living room, dining room and front foyer, as well as pink, purple and white balloons in bunches in every corner, and a big banner that read "HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA" in metallic fuchsia lettering. She conjured up a small pile of presents on the coffee table, and a big cake. She knew it was way too much for five people, but she didn't really care at this point. It had three layers, and was covered in white frosting with pink and purple roses all over it.

Regina breathed a sigh as she looked around. It was perfect, but she was exhausted. Using magic was draining on a normal day, but added with her lack of sleep from the night before, it wore her out. She laid down on the couch to rest, just for a moment.

A knock on the door startled her, and she looked at the clock, realizing he had fallen asleep. She got up quickly and straightened out her dress and her hair as she headed to the door to let the Charmings in. She hadn't heard any excited squealing from a certain little Princess, so she figured Henry must have managed to keep her outside the whole time.

"Oh, wow, Regina!" Mary Margaret commented as she looked around the house.

"Too much?" Regina asked.

"I think it's perfect," David said, offering Regina a small smile.

"Where's Emma?" Mary Margaret asked, putting Neal's car seat down in the living room.

"Henry has her outside. I'll go get them," Regina replied. "Emma has no idea we're doing this."

Regina headed out to the back yard, where she found Henry and Emma sitting on the porch swing on the patio. Henry was reading to Emma, and Regina felt a pang of nostalgia, remembering how she used to read to Henry out on that same swing.

"Is it time?" Henry asked, when he noticed her standing there. Regina nodded, smiling.

"Time for what?" Emma asked, looking confused.

"Can I tell her?" Henry asked.

Regina nodded again.

"It's time for your party!" Henry exclaimed.

"Is it my birthday?" Emma asked, looking even more confused.

"Yes, it is! And we're having a party for you," Henry replied.

Emma seemed to ponder that for a moment, and then a big smile spread across her face. "I never had a birthday party before!" She exclaimed, jumping off of the swing. Regina was sure that wasn't true. The first family must have given her birthday parties, but she likely couldn't remember them now.

Regina held out her hand for Emma, who grabbed onto it eagerly. "Come, Princess Emma, your party awaits!"

 


	11. Chapter 11

Little Emma's face lit up when she saw the interior of the house decorated for her party.

"Mommy!" she cried, running over to Mary Margaret and wrapping her arms around her, which clearly took her by surprise.

"Happy birthday, Emma," Mary Margaret beamed, picking Emma up and holding her tight. Regina watched with a smile, but she still couldn't help that twinge of jealousy every time Emma was affectionate with her mother, as much as she hated that she felt it.

Emma seemed so carefree, and Regina wasn't sure if it was the party, or the giant burden that had surely lifted from the little girl when she finally told her secret. Either way, Regina loved watching her smile.

Henry grabbed his camera as they took Emma into the other room to give her her presents. "She's gonna want to see this, when she's back," Henry commented, as he started taking pictures. It had never occurred to Regina to take a picture of Little Emma, and she was glad Henry thought of it.

Emma sat between her parents on the couch, and didn't even seem to mind that she was only inches away from her father at this point. David took it upon himself to be the one to hand Emma her presents, which Regina thought was probably helping.

Regina had conjured up pretty princess Barbies, books and soft plushies; anything she thought would make Emma smile. She knew she would only have them for the rest of the day, but Regina didn't care. Emma's smile made it all worth it.

After gifts, Henry made a point of getting more pictures of Emma. He got David and Mary Margaret to pose with Emma alone, and then with Emma and Neal. Regina thought about what a cute family they made, and felt it was too bad they would never have a picture of all three of their children, together as children, when the baby was born.

Regina took the camera and got pictures of Henry and Emma together. "She's going to love this," Regina smiled, as she handed the camera back to Henry.

"Your turn," he said. Regina scooped Emma up without hesitation, and Henry took pictures of them smiling and laughing together.

"You get in there," Mary Margaret said to Henry, taking the camera. Henry laughed as he got into a picture with both his mothers. It occurred to Regina that this was the only picture of Henry with both his mothers that existed, and one of them just happened to be five-years-old in it.

They took one last picture before it was time for dinner. Henry set the camera up with the auto-timer, and all of them gathered on the couch together for their first ever family portrait. When it was done, Emma jumped up to start playing with her toys, and Henry and David headed in to the dining room to start setting the table.

"Thank you for this," Mary Margaret said, turning to Regina.

Regina just smiled, and squeezed Mary Margaret's hand, before standing. She still hadn't quite gotten used to accepting gratitude from the woman she spent several years actively trying to murder, but at least she was now feeling glad that she was never actually successful.

After dinner, Regina put six candles on the cake, and Emma made a silent wish before she blew them out. Regina gave Emma a bigger piece of cake than she probably should have, because afterwards, Emma was spun on a sugar high running around and playing with her new toys. Henry got some great shots of her with chocolate cake bits and white frosting all over her face before Regina could catch her with the cloth and clean her off.

Regina went in to start cleaning up the mess in the dining room, while David and Mary Margaret sat down to play with Emma on the floor. She caught Henry's eye, and motioned for him to come and join her.

"What's up?" Henry asked, coming into the room.

"This is the last time they get to spend with Emma, as a child. Let's give them some time alone together," Regina said.

Henry agreed, and helped Regina clean up the dishes, and the cake disaster from where Emma had been sitting.

"I think I'll go home with Grandma and Grandpa tonight, if that's okay with you," Henry said, when they were finished cleaning up.

"Why?"

"Tonight's the last time you get to spend with her, too. I know she's become really special to you, and you should get some time alone with her, too. I'll come back tomorrow, when she's my mom again."

Regina smiled and pulled Henry into a tight hug. Sometimes she just loved how perceptive he was.

Regina and Henry rejoined the Charmings in the living room after everything in the kitchen and dining room was done, and they all took turns playing with Emma throughout the evening. She set up her dolls to get ready for the ball.

"Is it the princess's coronation?" Mary Margaret asked.

"What's that?" Emma asked, scrunching up her nose.

"Well, it's where they give her her crown in front of all the kingdom, and everyone has a big party afterward," Mary Margaret explained.

Emma thought for a moment. "Yes, it is. The Queen has to give her the crown." Emma handed a doll to Regina, "You be the Queen."

Henry stifled a giggle, and Mary Margaret shot Regina a smile.

"I would be honoured," Regina replied, in her most refined Queen voice.

Emma handed David one of the male dolls. "Daddy, you're the King."

"Oh, I see," David smiled, taking the doll.

"It's just pretend," Emma whispered, "you don't have to really be Regina's husband, just the doll does."

"Henry's the prince," Emma continued, giving Henry a doll. "But you're not getting a crown, because it's only my coronation."

"That's alright," Henry laughed, "I'm sure the prince already got coronated before, since he's older."

Emma looked like she was about to protest that, but decided against it.

"Who can I be?" Mary Margaret asked.

"You're the fairy godmother," she said, handing her final doll to Mary Margaret, "because the princess is also Cinderella."

Henry smirked, but Regina shot him a look to tell him to keep his mouth shut. They had made it this far without any major slip-ups, they could surely make it the last couple hours without revealing the truth about fairy tales and magic.

"The princess is also Cinderella," Mary Margaret repeated, "because she had a bad life, but then she got a new life surrounded by people who love her."

Emma nodded, "and now it's time for the Queen to give her the crown."

They continued to play until Neal started to fuss. It was past his regular bedtime, and the Charmings had to leave. David and Mary Margaret gave Emma extra hugs, and to Regina's surprise, Emma didn't squirm out of her hug from David.

After Henry and the Charmings had left, Regina started to really dread what was coming tonight. She could see Emma was starting to yawn, and she knew she couldn't delay the inevitable. Emma was exhausted, and though it was earlier than she usually went to bed, Regina knew she couldn't risk her falling asleep before she drank the potion. She went to the kitchen and poured a cup of juice, and felt a lump forming in her throat as she added the clear potion to it. Her hands were shaking a bit as she re-entered the living room.

"Are you getting sleepy, baby?" Regina asked.

Emma looked up from her toys and nodded.

Regina handed her the cup. "Have some juice, and we'll get ready for bed."

"Can I leave these dolls here?" Emma asked. "I'm getting them ready for another ball, and I want to play with them again tomorrow."

The sick feeling in Regina's stomach got stronger, knowing that Little Emma's dolls would never make it to the next ball, but she forced a smile anyway. "Of course."

Emma smiled and drank her juice. When it was gone, Regina scooped her up and hugged her extra tight as she carried her up the stairs, knowing it would be the last time.

When they got upstairs, Regina pulled a T-shirt out of her dresser. She turned to Emma. "Princess, you don't have any clean jammies left, so you can sleep in this ok?" It was a lie, but Regina was fairly certain that Emma's little pajamas wouldn't grow with her. Emma didn't seem to mind, as she took the shirt from Regina and changed. It hung down almost to the floor on Little Emma, which made her giggle.

Emma placed her new tiara safely on the night stand, and snuggled under the covers, next to Regina. Regina brushed her blond curls away from her face, and looked at her with a sad smile.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Emma scrunched up her nose.

"I'm just trying to remember everything about you. You grow and change so much every day, I don't want to forget anything," said Regina.

Emma grinned. "One day I'll be as big as you!"

 _Sooner than you know_ , Regina thought to herself.

"Emma, before you go to sleep, I want to tell you something. I'm so glad you came into my life, and I love every minute I get to spend with you. You're more precious to me than you'll ever know," Regina paused, and wiped a tear from her eye. "And I want you to know, that no matter what happens, no matter how old you get, if you ever need me, I'll be here. Even if you're as big as me, and you just need someone to hold you, I'll be there."

"'Cause you'll never leave me," Emma said.

"Never," Regina agreed.

Emma closed her eyes, and Regina stroked her hair and sang to her until she fell asleep. When Emma's breathing became slow and rhythmic, Regina pulled away, and sat up in bed, no longer able to find the onslaught of tears. She was so glad Henry had gone home with the Charmings, so he wouldn't hear her sobbing now.

When she got the tears under control, Regina turned back to look at Emma again. Her face looked the same, but she was getting bigger, and Regina knew the spell was working. Regina just sat, and watched, feeling numb, as Emma continued to rapidly age before her eyes. She watched her face show signs of distress off and on, and Regina wasn't sure if she was having bad dreams or if it was just the bad memories coming back at her, rapid-fire.

Part of her wanted to wake Emma up and hold her, and tell her everything was alright. However, she knew if she woke up this Emma, who looked to be about nine or ten, she wouldn't have a clue where she was or what was happening, and it would cause way more harm than good. So she just continued to watch her.

After about three hours, Emma started to stir more, and her eyes fluttered a bit. Regina watched her in silent panic. She looked like she was about 13 or 14 now, and Regina was terrified she was about to wake up. Regina breathed a sigh of relief when Emma finally stopped moving again, but moments later, green eyes flashed open.

"Regina?" Emma asked.

 _She remembers me_ , Regina thought, momentarily elated. But she knew she couldn't let Emma stay awake.

"Shh, baby, go back to sleep," Regina said, softly.

"Why am I here?" Emma asked, blinking a couple times, panic evident in her voice.

"You're just dreaming. Close your eyes and go back to sleep," Regina cooed. Emma sleepily closed her eyes again, and drifted back off to sleep.

Regina watched as Emma progressed through her teenage years, and started to look more like the full grown Emma she knew. She pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them close, and putting her head down, as reality struck her that her time with Little Emma was really, truly over. She couldn't watch anymore, so she kept her head down, praying for morning to come quick. She didn't sleep, she just stayed right there like that for the remaining hours of the night.

"Regina?"

Regina lifted her head at that familiar voice, and blinked her eyes a few times. She hadn't even realized morning had arrived, but now the sun was streaming in the window. She turned to look at Emma, who sat up and looked at her, confused, and perhaps a little terrified.

"Regina, what happened? Why am I here?"

"What do you remember?" Regina asked. Emma looked like a fully grown Miss Swan, but Regina wanted to make sure she had completely caught up to the moment before the spell struck her, and was not currently stuck at some random moment during the curse, or anywhere else in between.

"I remember Maleficent pointing her staff at me, and then I woke up here. What did she do? Some sort of sleeping curse?"

Regina breathed a sigh of relief. The spell worked. Emma was back to where she was supposed to be. "You don't remember anything else?"

Emma shook her head.

Regina felt her heart drop to her stomach. She took a deep breath before speaking again, so her emotions wouldn't betray her. She couldn't exactly break down crying now, when Emma wouldn't have a clue why. "Maleficent didn't put you to sleep," she started, "sleeping curses are kind of a one-time thing. Once you've been under one, you're immune. The spell she used was..."

Regina let her voice trail off as she realized Emma wasn't really listening, she was staring across the room with a distant look in her eyes. "Emma, what is it?"

Emma turned back to Regina. "Did I spend time here once? When I was little?"

Regina couldn't help the smile that was spreading across her face. "You do remember."

"I never remembered it before," Emma shook her head in confusion, "things just suddenly started coming back to me right now. I remember sleeping in this bed."

"You didn't remember before, because it didn't happen before. It happened last week," Regina replied.

"What?" Emma asked, furrowing her brow.

"That was the spell Maleficent used on you. It turned you back into a child."

Emma nodded slowly. "I remember Henry being there. I was little, but he was there. This is so strange... it feels like a memory from my childhood, but it can't be… Why did I stay with you?"

"Because you needed me," Regina replied.

Emma suddenly smiled like she had just remembered something, and turned to the night stand, picking up her silver tiara. "You keep extra tiaras around? Just in case?"

Regina smiled. "No, but I have magic. And it made you happy."

"Yes, it did," Emma replied, but her smile was fading quickly. She put the tiara down and turned to look at Regina again, with a much more somber look in her eyes. "I told you what happened to me, when I was five. I've never told anyone about that, ever."

"Sweetheart," Regina said before she could catch herself. It had become second nature to use pet-names with Emma. For her part, Emma didn't seem to react to it, and Regina wondered if it had been second nature to Emma to hear them from her. "I hope you don't regret telling me," Regina continued.

"I don't," Emma replied, but her face was still clearly distressed. "I never told anyone when I was little, not because I didn't want to, but because no one cared enough to notice how screwed up I was. No one ever asked me what was wrong. Then, the more time that passed, the less I even wanted to tell someone."

"I wasn't sure if you even remembered it, as an adult."

"I never forgot. It's haunted me my whole life. Regina..." she paused.

"What is it?"

"I remember you telling me that no matter how old I got, you would still hold me anytime I needed you. Did you mean that?"

"Of course I did."

"I need you now," Emma's voice cracked a little.

Without a moment of hesitation, Regina pulled Emma into her arms, and Emma let her head rest on Regina's chest, as she wrapped her arms around her waist. Regina had never held the Adult Emma before, but after her time with Little Emma, somehow this felt natural to her now.

"I thought I dreamed you once, when I was fourteen," Emma said. "I thought I woke up, and I was here, and you were here."

"That wasn't a dream. That was last night. You woke up, but I had to tell you it was a dream."

Emma nodded, and remained silent for a few moments. Regina figured she was probably trying to process everything, and she knew it was a lot to take in.

"Are my parents really having another baby, or am I imagining that?" Emma asked, finally.

"They are," Regina smiled, rubbing Emma's back like she did when she was little.

Emma sat silent for a few more minutes, before speaking up again. "I never actually got lost in Boston, when I was little. Can I tell you what actually happened, after Lindy almost drowned me in the bathtub?" Emma asked, softly.

"Yes," Regina replied, drawing in a deep breath. She wasn't sure if she was ready for this, but Emma clearly needed to get it all out in the open.

"Lindy called an ambulance after I threw up, and she told me to tell them I slipped and went under the water. The hospital called Children's Services, but they didn't send the social worker I usually had. They sent this other woman who I had never met, and she wasn't nice. I cried for my regular worker, but she was pregnant, and the one they sent told me she was having her baby that night, so she wasn't coming." Emma wiped a tear from her eye before continuing.

"If my regular worker had been there, I think I would have told her everything. I trusted her. But instead, I was alone in a room full of strangers. They sent Lindy out, and I was there with this social worker, two cops and a doctor, and they were asking me so many questions. I was so terrified of Lindy and Paul, and I was scared that even if I told the truth, they would still send me back to them, and they would know I told. So I lied. I told them that I slipped and that Lindy pulled me out and saved me. I made her look like a goddamn hero, and they sent me back home with her that night."

"How long were you there, after that?" Regina asked.

"I don't know, a couple months, maybe? I cried all the time, and that's when I started having nightmares and sucking my thumb and… wetting the bed. All of that. They ended up sending me back, because I was too much trouble."

"Your regular worker was having a baby," Regina said, processing that in her mind. "She wasn't there when you needed her. That was the real reason you were upset over your mother's pregnancy, wasn't it? Not because you thought they'd send you back, but because you thought she wouldn't be there when you needed her."

Emma nodded. "I don't think I even understood that at the time, but yeah, you're right."

"You had scars on you, Emma," Regina commented, suddenly remembering the marks on her abdomen.

"I know. They were burns, but they weren't from Paul and Lindy. They were from the people before."

"What happened?" Regina asked, stroking Emma's hair.

" _That_  home, I actually don't really remember. I just know I had the scars before Lindy got me. They asked her about them at the hospital, I remember, but I don't remember what she told them. The hospital brushes off old injuries on foster kids though. I guess because they just assume kids are in foster care for a reason, and they don't ask," Emma shrugged.

"I'm so sorry, Emma," Regina said, hugging her tighter.

Emma breathed a heavy sigh, and her lip started to quiver. Regina could tell she was fighting back the tears. "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking… how different my life could have been, if someone like you had really come along when I was five. I know it wasn't real, but somehow, everything you did and everything you said, it just kind of… I don't know… kind of healed me a little?"

"I know it's hard to process right now, but it was real, Emma," Regina assured her. "And I meant every word I said to you, when you were little."

Even though a few tears fell, a small smile crept onto Emma's lips. "So does that mean I'll still always be your princess?"

Regina felt her face flush. "I did say that, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did," Emma smiled. "Don't be embarrassed. It was sweet. And I needed to hear it. I like this side of you, Regina. I'm not sure I would have gotten to experience it if it weren't for this spell, but I'm glad I did. Now I know why Henry turned out so great, he has a wonderful mother."

"He has two wonderful mothers," Regina corrected her. She could feel the tears burning in the corners of her eyes, and she knew it was only going to be a matter of time before her emotions got the better of her.

Emma took a deep breath. "You smell the same."

"Don't be weird," Regina replied, not sure what to make of that comment.

"I'm not trying to be weird. Scents trigger memory. Your perfume, or body lotion, or whatever it is, it's making me remember more," Emma explained. "Regina, I don't want to get all sappy, or anything, but I want you to know… it might sound strange, but I feel like you filled a hole in my heart, that I thought was going to be there forever. I spent my whole childhood thinking that there was something wrong with me, that I was somehow unlovable. But you changed that."

Regina couldn't hold it back anymore, and she started to sob. Emma shifted so that Regina's head could rest on her chest, and she stroked her dark hair. Regina cried for the little girl who suffered so much, and for the memories of the little princess she wished she could have held onto longer. But in the midst of all of that, she also felt a small glimmer of hope, for the new-found bond that she and Emma would share, moving forward, and for that, she was grateful.

* * *


	12. Emma

It wasn't long before Regina had cried herself to sleep on Emma's shoulder, and Emma just sat and stroked her hair. She rested her head against Regina's and tried to piece together all the memories of her time in Storybrooke as a child. She didn't want to lose a single detail, as more little moments came back to her.

She heard Regina's phone vibrating on the nightstand, and glanced down at it, seeing her mother's name come up on the screen. Regina didn't stir, so Emma reached down and picked it up to answer it.

"Hi, Mom," she said softly.

 _"Emma!"_  Mary Margaret's voice came through the phone, elated.  _"We were worried. The spell worked? Are you ok?"_

"I'm fine," Emma replied, "back to normal, and all in one piece."

_"Do you remember anything?"_

"Yeah," Emma said with a small laugh, "sorry I was such a pain. I guess you'll be ready for when Neal hits the terrible twos! If there's one kid in the world who might be able to out-scream little me, it will be him."

 _"Emma, you weren't a pain,_ " Mary Margaret responded.

"Listen, Regina's asleep and I don't want to wake her up. But I'm going to head over to your place in a little while, ok?"

_"Ok, Emma. We love you."_

"I love you, too," Emma said, as she ended the call.

Emma put the phone back down, and resumed gently stroking Regina's hair. She held her like that for nearly two hours, listening to her rhythmic breathing and thinking about their time together. Emma thought about how naturally dealing with her as a scared, screwed up little kid had come to Regina, and how she always knew exactly what to say or do. She wondered what demons Regina had from her own childhood that allowed her to recognize her as a damaged child, right from the start.

And that's how Emma had come to think of herself, from a very early age: damaged. She was broken, and no one wanted to fix her. Maybe no one knew how to fix her, or maybe she was just unfixable, but all she knew was, until Regina, no one had even tried.

Emma felt Regina start to stir, and she looked down to see her brown eyes fluttering open. Regina pulled back to look at Emma.

"Was I asleep?" she asked, still groggy.

"Yeah," Emma smiled.

"Mmm," Regina murmured, as she stretched her shoulders. "I had to stay awake to watch you all of last night."

"You watched me grow from a preschooler to an adult?" Emma asked, scrunching up her nose.

Regina smiled. "You still look like a five-year-old when you do that," she commented. "But yes, I did. And it was bizarre, but oddly enough, I don't think that would even make the top ten of strangest things I have ever witnessed."

"Seriously?" Emma asked.

"I have been to Wonderland, my dear," Regina replied.

"'My dear'," Emma repeated, in a teasing voice.

Regina raised an eyebrow.

"I preferred 'Princess'," said Emma.

"I bet," Regina said with a small laugh.

Emma thought back to her 'birthday party' from the night before. She was now aware enough of time to know there was no way it was October yet, and she loved the sentiment of what Regina did for her even more because of it. "Do you want to know what I wished for?"

"What?" Regina asked.

"When I blew out my candles, on my birthday cake. I wished to be a princess for real," Emma said, grinning.

"Well, technically you are, so I guess your wish came true."

"Yeah I guess so. I can't believe you guys kept the fairy tale thing a secret though. I was five, I would have loved it," said Emma.

"Would you still have wanted to stay with me if you knew I was the Evil Queen?" Regina asked.

"You know I've never looked at you that way," Emma replied.

"I know," Regina said. "I had to hide magic from you, too. You didn't seem to have yours."

Emma nodded. "I don't remember it ever manifesting until I was a teenager. If I would have had it when I was little, maybe I would have stood a fighting chance against the horrible people in my life."

"Do you know what ever happened to them? Paul and Lindy? Please tell me they are in prison."

Emma shook her head. "No, I never heard anything after I left them."

Regina looked disappointed. "If had you when you were actually five, I would have tracked them down and incinerated them myself."

Emma smiled. "I don't doubt that for a second. The other homes I was in, later, they weren't like that. They weren't good, but no one hurt me again, not after Paul and Lindy. They just couldn't handle me. Most of them didn't even try." Emma paused for a second, and then shook her head, shaking the memories away. "But that doesn't matter anymore. It's the past, and I survived."

"Are you going to go see your parents?" Regina asked, changing the subject.

"Yes. I was actually thinking a lot about what to say to them, while you were sleeping."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they're having another baby. Three adults and two children are way too many people for that little apartment. I'm going to have to move out. But I need to figure out how to tell them. They're going to be heartbroken."

"They'll be fine, Emma," Regina assured her.

Emma just nodded.

Regina held out her hand and conjured up a house key, and held it out to Emma.

"What's this?" Emma asked.

"A key," Regina replied.

"I can see that. What I meant is why?"

"If it ever gets too crowded at the Charming loft, I want you to know you're always welcome here. That is, so long as grown up Emma isn't still afraid of the guest bedroom."

Emma grinned and took the key. "I wasn't scared as a kid either, I just wanted to make you feel needed."

"Well, that was quite a lot of theatrics for someone who was faking it. I never knew you were such an actress," Regina said, arching her eyebrow again.

"Will you still come to my rescue if I have a nightmare?" Emma asked, in a much more serious tone.

"Always," Regina promised. She got up out of bed, and grabbed a bag from the chair in the corner. "Your parents brought you some clothes last night, since I don't think your pretty pink skirts are going to cut it anymore."

Emma got took the clothes and got up to change in the other bedroom. She went downstairs, and stared at the mess of toys she had left out the night before. She smiled and shook her head as she started picking them up.

"You spoiled me," She said, when she saw Regina come into the room.

"I may have gone a  _little_  overboard," Regina admitted, "the party was Henry's idea though."

"I loved it," Emma smiled. "You know it's my  _real_  birthday in a month."

"What are you hinting at? You think I'll throw you two parties in one year?"

Emma shrugged. "It was worth a shot."

"Oh, here," Regina said, grabbing a set of keys off of the coffee table. "Your parents brought your Bug here last night, too."

Emma took the keys, and saw Regina smile as she watched her add her house key to the ring.

"I'll be back later," Emma promised, as she headed toward the door.

"You're leaving without your tiara?" Regina teased.

"You hold on to it for me," Emma laughed.

"Alright, see you later, my Princess," Regina smiled. Emma grinned and shook her head. She figured Regina must be punch drunk from her lack of sleep. Or else teasing her was just Regina's way of coping with the loss she was feeling over Little Emma.

When she got in her car, Emma looked back to see Regina still watching her from the doorway, as she pulled away. Regina had told Emma that she stayed with at her house because she needed her, but now Emma was convinced that right now, it was Regina who needed her. She resolved not to stay away too long, as she drove toward her parents' loft.

As soon as she entered the doorway of her parents' loft, Mary Margaret ran over and pulled her into a big hug.

"I can't believe you're finally back," she said, taking her by the hand and leading her inside.

David joined them in the kitchen and pulled Emma into a strong embrace, holding the back of her head with his hand, like he always did. Emma squeezed him back hard, trying to make up for how hard her younger self had pushed him away.

"Where's Henry?" she asked, looking around.

"He went to help Belle down at Gold's shop for the morning," David told her, "she's taking him back to Regina's after. He was worried about her being upset, now that you're gone."

"Well, I'm going back over there later," Emma said, turning to head to the sitting room. She glanced down at the space beside the chair, where she had hidden herself away the night Regina had first come over, when she was little. She thought about how tiny and scared she had been, and tried to shake that feeling away.

"Why are you going back?" Mary Margaret asked, as she and David joined Emma in the sitting room.

Emma shrugged, "because I told her I would. I think she kind of needs me right now. But I didn't come here to talk about Regina. I came to talk about us."

"What about?" Mary Margaret asked, looking nervous.

"Nothing bad, don't look so worried," Emma replied. "I just want you to know... I know you guys tried you best with me. I wasn't the easiest kid."

"That wasn't your fault," said David.

"I know, but it wasn't your fault either, and I know that now. I harboured a lot of resentment towards you two growing up, before I even met you, because I couldn't understand why you didn't want me. After I found out the truth, there was still a little piece of me that couldn't let that go. But now I get to carry the memory with me, that my parents did come and find me, and what that means to me… I'll never be able to fully express."

Emma could see tears forming in Mary Margaret's eyes. "Oh, don't cry Mom! You're gonna make me cry."

"I'm just emotional right now," Mary Margaret replied, wiping her eyes.

"You mean hormonal?" Emma laughed. "Sorry about my reaction to your news when I was a kid, by the way. You should know, I'm so happy you're having another baby."

"We knew  _you_ would be," David smiled, "Little Emma's reaction took us a bit by surprise."

"The baby, that's the other thing I want to talk to you about. This place is just way too small for three adults and two children. I'm going to start looking for my own place," Emma said. She looked at her parents, trying to gauge their reactions.

"Emma, you don't have to do that. We'll make it work out," Mary Margaret replied.

"Guys, listen… I had a lot of time to think this morning, and this is the best thing, really. All I ever wanted as a kid was to have my parents. Now I have you, but our relationship will never be what you have with Neal, or what you will have with the new baby, and that's ok. I never wanted to leave before because I just got you back, but I know now that I'm not going to lose you again. I got a second chance to make some new, good childhood memories, and some of those include you guys, and I will have those forever. I'm glad you guys got the second chance to be parents, to Neal, and to this new baby, right from the start."

"But we want you here. We'll miss you," David said.

"Dad, don't talk like you'll never see me again. Storybrooke is not that big. And we work together," Emma reminded him.

"Just as long as you're not planning on moving onto the Jolly Roger," David replied, always so protective. Emma wished she could have seen that quality in him when she was a child. She knew it would have done her a world of good to have a man protect her, rather than hurt her, when she was little.

"Speaking of the Jolly Roger, I don't remember seeing Killian at all, when I was little," Emma commented.

"We asked him to stay away," said David. "We weren't sure at first how you would react to a hook-handed pirate, and then when Regina got it out of you that you didn't like boys, we told him he needed to wait, until you were you again."

"Regina would have roasted him if he tried to come over when you were at her place," Mary Margaret commented. Emma laughed. She was sure that was probably true. And she was sure she should probably pay him a visit, now that she was herself again. But that could wait.

She stayed with her parents a little longer, talking about the new baby, and the good memories that she did make with them, until Emma decided it was time to go. She wanted to see Henry.

Emma grabbed a change of clothes before she got in her Bug to head to Regina's. She hadn't told her yet that she planned on staying the night, but she was sure Regina wasn't going to mind. Emma pulled up in front of the house and headed for the door. She smiled as she turned her new key in the lock.

"Hey, kid!" Emma said, when found Henry in the kitchen, fixing himself a snack.

"Mom!" Henry exclaimed, coming around the corner to give her a big hug. "I missed you."

"You just saw me yesterday!" Emma laughed.

"I know, but that wasn't  _you_ ," Henry reminded her.

"I know. Yesterday I was just a pint-sized little brat," Emma replied, breaking away from the hug to look at Henry's face.

"No, you weren't. You were cute… and you thought I was the smartest boy in the world," Henry grinned. Emma glanced up at the fridge and smiled when she saw her masterpiece still hanging there.

"I still think that," Emma said, with a smile.

"You were a cute kid, but I'm glad you're back."

"Me too. I love you so much Henry," Emma said, kissing his forehead.

"I love you, too," He said. "Hey, look at these. I got the pictures from your party printed!"

Henry handed Emma a pile of pictures, and she couldn't stop smiling as she leafed through them.

"Wow, I was a cute kid," she said, with a laugh, holding up one of the pictures with frosting all over her face. Henry laughed.

Emma stopped when she found a picture of herself and Regina. Regina was holding her tight and kissing her temple, while Emma was beaming, apparently in mid-laugh.

"That's my favourite one," Henry commented. Emma smiled. It was her favourite, too.

"Where is your mom?" Emma she, realizing she hadn't seen Regina since she came back.

"I haven't seen her in a while. I think she went to take a nap," Henry replied. "She said she didn't get much sleep last night. She was exhausted."

"I bet. She didn't sleep at all last night. I'll go check on her," Emma said, stealing a bite of the sandwich Henry had made himself before she left the room.

Emma crept up the stairs to Regina's room, where she found her sleeping in her bed. Emma slid into the bed, and curled up next to her, resting her forehead next to Regina's.

"Emma," Regina said in a sleepy soft voice, without opening her eyes.

"Shh, go back to sleep," said Emma.

"I miss you," Regina said, still only half-awake.

"I'm right here," Emma replied, wrapping her arm around Regina. Regina nodded, but Emma had a feeling she knew what Regina meant: she missed her as a five-year-old.

Emma smiled to herself as she got an idea. She snuggled herself closer to Regina and started to sing.

"Lavenders blue, dilly, dilly, lavenders green  
When you are King, dilly, dilly, I'll be your Queen"

Regina smiled. "You remember the words," she said, her eyes still closed.

"Of course I do," Emma replied, before continuing.

"Lavenders green, dilly, dilly, lavenders blue,  
If you love me, dilly, dilly, I will love you."

"I do love you, Emma," Regina whispered.

"I love you, too."

**THE END**


End file.
